South Africa expected Virender Sehwag to blast with the bat - which he duly did, smashing 59 off 58 balls. But the sucker punch that sensationally knocked them out of the tournament came from Sehwag's golden arm. His return of 5-0-25-3 ended with two wickets in the last over, when South Africa needed 21 to reach the final. He bowled 26 of the 30 balls he delivered in the match to a well-set Jacques Kallis and to Lance Klusener, who was supposed to be executing the finishing rites. He had them both in a tangle, keeping the ball up and giving them just 23 runs off 26 balls when the asking rate was over eight.

He gave away only two runs on the off side; the rest were scratched out in the arc from square leg to long-on. It was a golden nugget of a bowling effort, without a single no-ball or wide. The only boundary that came off him was a six by Jacques Kallis in the last over, when Sehwag experimented by bowling round the wicket. And when he snaffled the wickets of Kallis, Mark Boucher and Klusener, South Africa realised too late that they had not planned against Sehwag the offspinner. It was a fatal mistake.

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