The Springboks were 0-2 down and it was a must win situation for them at Faridabad, to stay in the series. With the plan of defending targets not succeeding in the earlier games, Cronje had to come up with a different ploy. He decided to back his batting and opted to chase on winning the toss. The wicket at Faridabad was different than it normally is, providing a bit of bounce and movement for the seamers early on, but Ganguly countered it with some magnificent shots.

He is aware that his strength is in playing through the offside and he smashed the South African seamers at will after giving himself room. Tendulkar, trying to graft out a big score, looked solid but was trapped by Shaun Pollock. This brought Dravid to the crease early on, providing him the opportunity to play a long innings. He always puts a price on his wicket and the fall of Ganguly and Azharuddin meant that Dravid had to play the sheet anchor role, which suits him. Dravid, along with Jadeja, kept things ticking over with the South Africans slowly sneaking back into the game. Some sensible batting towards the end by Joshi and Dighe produced 75 runs in the last 10 overs to give the Indians a competitive score.

There was always a chance that the Springboks, in trying to get the runs, would mess things up. Kirsten, the experienced opener, took upon the responsibility of keeping one end going after losing his partner Gibbs. Boje played a brief but belligerent innings to up the tempo but the Indians dismissed him and Kallis in quick succession. At this stage, the match was developing into more of a game of chess and the team which held the nerve better was going to emerge victorious. Cronje, the ever positive batsman in one-dayers regardless of his form, went after the Indian attack and at one stage the South Africans were cruising.

Tendulkar got rid of Cronje and the late middle order collapse brought the Indians back into the game. The lack of a genuine fifth bowler proved to be a major handicap and Ganguly had to press Dravid into the attack. Dravid castled Pollock but that wicket came a bit late in the day. Strydom, having a nightmare of a tour, must have learnt a thing or two about something called pressure. He had Boucher, as solid as a rock amidst all the excitement, at the other end. Strydom managed to scamper for a single and it was left to the wicket keeper to complete the formalities.

Boucher may be young, but his temperament is absolutely incredible. He finished the match in style by pulling Dravid into the stands. The idea of making Dravid bowl the final over was baffling because the regular bowlers had not completed their quota of overs. The lack of confidence in Kumaran might have made Ganguly resort to Dravid. Be that as it may, Ganguly should be lauded for not letting the game drift. His boys made a fight of it till the end, which was refreshing to see. The South Africans deserve all the credit as they were under pressure throughout the match, but they handled it well enough to pull off a thrilling victory.

© Woorkheri Raman