Monday, February 22, 2010

1 is always fun!


The power of one was witnessed yet again in the recently concluded first One-Day International match played at the Sawai Mann Singh Stadium in Jaipur (Rajasthan), India this Sunday! The match was going either way since the very start, but it will turn out to be such nerve-wreaking was never thought of!

Review:
Toss was always going to be important, as far as you are playing in Indian subcontinent. (In Test match, fourth inning is always difficult to play here (pitch almost breaks on 4th day) and in day-night ODIs, dew is always a factor to watch out for.) Having already lost 7 of the 8 tosses in the matches played so far in 2010, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s bad luck continued. And as expected, South Africa chose to bowl first on winning the toss, because of the dew factor coming into play, later in the evening.

India Innings: South Africa got a perfect start, with Sachin Tendulkar (4) back in the hut in the very second over to a very unnecessary run-out. The player getting out in such a fashion even after playing more than 440-ODIs is certainly unimaginable. Whose call was it anyway? Now, India needed to steady down, and that’s what India’s stand-in wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik did with Virender Sehwag. However their partnership was broken down with Sehwag (46) getting run-out, little unfortunate there not to get to a well-deserved 50. Soon, Karthik (44) got out, and Dhoni (26) followed him to a very soft dismissal at extra cover, scoreboard reading 138/4. India, already had lost their three and only experienced batsmen, so needed some partnerships at this stage in order to post a defendable target, and now the onus lied on India’s young talent Kohli, Raina, Pathan and Jadeja. And they did not disappoint anyone, and Kohli and Raina partnered 66 runs together, before Kohli (31) got out on the bowling of Albie Morkel. With the hard-hitter of the ball Yusuf Pathan in the middle, India opted for the 5-over Batting Powerplay in the over No. 39, but the strategy did not worked as planned with Pathan (18) trying to replicate a Six he hit on the second ball of Over 39, got out to another soft dismissal at cover off the bowling of Wayne Parnell. However, Raina and Jadeja plundered 48 runs in the powerplay, but soon after that Raina (58) looking good so far, got out caught behind the wicket off Kallis, giving him his 250th wicket in ODIs. Jadeja (22) fell identically to Kallis soon. With Praveen Kumar (13) getting run-out in the 50th Over, India’s chance of getting passed the psychological 300-runs mark, got almost finished. Jacques Kallis (7-0-29-3) was the pick of the bowler, while Suresh Raina (58) topped for the host. South Africa was thus given a target of 299 runs in the end.

The most entertaining moments in this inning were Ashish Nehra hitting Charl Langeveldt out of the ground for a six (his third in the ODIs), Nehra surviving the certain run out (no one appealed for, except for the fielder Johan Botha’s weak appeal), and Wayne Parnell missing bowling Nehra out (no bails on the stumps fell, even).

South Africa Innings: With required rate almost 6-runs per over, South Africa got to a flyer, plundering the Indian fast bowlers at might. South Africa reached 50 in 7.3 over, but soon the new opener Loots Bosman (29), coming in place of Graeme Smith, was cleaned up by Praveen Kumar. Gibbs (27) followed him soon, trying to hit Jadeja out of the ground, but failing to clear Kohli. Later when the partnership between Kallis and AB de Villiers look threatening, Jadeja provided yet another break-through, eliminating de Villiers (25) bowling him out. With Alviro Petersen (9) forgetting the cricket basics (not grounding his bat on time for surviving a run-out), South Africa were reduced to 134-4 in 25.5 overs. All the wickets fell in this inning so far, showed how much it is important to stick to the basics. South Africa were in deep trouble with Albie Morkel (2) felling lbw to Nehra, and Boucher (5) giving the practice catch to his Indian counterpart off the bowling of Sreesanth (180-7). All the hopes of resurgence dashed with Sreesanth disturbing the furniture of Kallis (89). With No. 9 and No. 10 in the middle, and South Africa needing 74 in 7 overs, a certain defeat was on the cards. But, Parnell and Steyn had some other idea, and were helped by the un-imaginative bowling and captaincy from Indians. The duo collected 34 runs in 4 overs, including a 14-run off Suresh Raina over. Needing 40 from last 3 overs, Steyn and Parnell first clobbered Sreesanth for 14-runs (48th over), and then Nehra for 16-runs (49th over). Seeing Sreesanth hit all over the park, Dhoni turned to his medium pacer Praveen Kumar, and he did not disappointed his captain and managed to get rid of Steyn (35) on the 2nd ball in the 50th over. The drama continued, with Sachin Tendulkar superbly saving a certain boundary from No. 11 Langeveldt (4). With Parnell (49) on strike, needing 3 off the last ball, it looked like he will manage to pull off a memorable victory for South Africa, but he could manage only 1, thus handing Indians a single-run victory. Clearly, Ravindra Jadeja (10-2-29-2) was the pick of bowler, while Kallis top-scored with 89. Sreesanth having affected the four South Africans wickets to fell was punished severely by South African batsmen and returned with the figures 9-1-74-2.

Comparisons: In the end, India somehow mange to sneak with a victory from a certain defeat, and the chokers tag remained with the South Africans only. On the bowling front, both the teams were at par, with respect to their bowling (although Kallis felt his bowlers did a commendable job), failing to polish off the lower half early. On the batting front, no one could convert their start into big innings except for Jacques Kallis. But the South Africans clearly outsmart their Indian counterparts, the services of Yuvraj Singh clearly seen missing here.

Samey’s patriotic but cricketing view: I think the attacking captaincy, for which Dhoni is known, was missing completely. Even when Sreesanth was not able to bowl at right line to tail-enders (that was clearly evident from his bowling), and Parnell using his pace for third-man boundaries, the decision to give him 48th over was not the correct one. With 3-overs left with Praveen Kumar, he persisted with Sreesanth and Raina. The only positive thing about his captaincy was he was continuously changing his fielding, and that can disturb any good player for sure.

But all is well that ends well, and INDIA EMERGING VICTORIOUS, is what any Indians might have asked for. Hope, India doesn’t accounts for more heart-attacks, and wins comfortably the next matches.

ALL THE BEST for both the teams, and let CRICKET WIN.