A pivotal scheduled clash between two of the strongest teams in the World Cup is at hand. Rather than do a running diary after every over, I shall write frequently, as and when thoughts come to mind during the telecast. Pardon the typos. After all, even the best of batsmen edge the ball during the best of innings.
2:55am: Further signs that the world in indeed going to end in 2012 - India goes into a cricket match at home with fewer specialist spinners than South Africa. India adopts the horses for courses strategy and takes just Harbhajan (Economy) Singh into the game. Of course, the course we are preparing for is a South African one. I hope Yuvraj Singh takes a few wickets. After all, Economy has been told by his captain to not worry about wickets as long as he contains the scoring.
By the way, just as it is not uncommon for my students to develop those 24-hour flus on the day of an exam, now that South Africa have made the quarter-final, leg-spinner Imran Tahir has a fractured thumb on his non-bowling hand that will take 10 days to heal. Just enough time to miss out on the rest of the league games but not too long that he will miss any of the knock-out games. Along the way, it surprised no one (and I predicted this would happen before the World Cup in an email to a friend) Tahir picks up the injury on the eve of the match against India.
3:05am: Everyone has all kinds of superstitions about the first ball they face. A player on my team (JJ) always shoulders the bat and lets the first ball go, another (FXO) likes to swing as hard as possible and hit a six. Sehwag likes to hit a four. Ho-hum, another first ball 4 for Virender Sehwag - the fifth time he has done so in 5 World Cup games this year.
3:10am: Ravi Shastri, not one of my favorite commentators by any stretch of imagination, calls this a "good pitch" because "the ball is coming on nicely and batsmen can hit through the line". A long time ago, before he grew up and became a stodgy batsman with an eye on Audi's and pretty women, Shastri used to be a pretty good left-arm spinner. Then he was shown the light by Sunil Gavaskar, I suppose.
3:25am: I bet Shastri's idea of a perfect game would be the first 1000 run game in an ODI. The way Sehwag is batting and India is bowling, it could be on the cards today. Morne van Wyck channels his inner Kamran Akmal and lets an edged ball off Sehwag harmlessly go by about a couple of feet to his right. Graeme Smith, no doubt used to Boucher puching catches for fun next to him, does not move either. Sehwag, please meet your gift horse. They don't come much better wrapped than this.
3:40am: After 8 overs, India are 70 for no loss. 7 singles, 12 fours, 1 five, 1 three. In other words, a typical opening partnership for the world's most boundary-happy team. Sehwag enters the 40's, the most dangerous time in an inning for him.
3:48am: "That was a signature dish from the Tendulkar cuisine, gushes Sanjay Manjrekar after seeing a replay of a picture perfect straight drive, right out of the textbook, by SRT off Morne Morkel. If that was an unrehearsed line, take a bow, Manjrekar.
3:52am: On CricInfo's (always entertaining) cricket commentary comes this gem of a metaphor from someone named Archit. "Watching Sehwag play is like throwing an ice-cream in the air and catching it with your mouth. It's exhilarating if it works out, and you go hungry if it doesn't." India scores 87 for no loss in 10 overs, SRT 35 (20 balls), Viru 46 (41 balls).
3:56am: After picking enough spinners (not named Tahir) to fill up a couple of Noah's Ark, Graeme Smith shows his captaincy nous by not using them in the first 11 overs. Stay with my for a minute. Viru and SRT have shown that they are enjoying the pace that is being thrown their way. The only balls that they have not creamed to the fence have been the slower ones. All tournament long, Smith began with a spinner to great success, as England will attest. Today, he eschewed this strategy based on the reputation of his opposition. Either it was a tactical ploy to not show their hand for the knockout stage or another example of a captain better suited to a game of book cricket. Take a chance, Smith. Sehwag is more likely to self-destruct against a spinner than he is to the express pace of Steyn, Morkel (or even Kallis).
4:00am: Sehwag survives the nervous 40's, the first hour, and the SAffer pace attack. Spin is on and, not surprisingly, Viru steps towards the square-leg umpire and lofts the first ball inside out to the cover boundary to reach a 50. That took him 11.2 overs. And he played 46 balls to get there. It's a world gone crazy out there - Sehwag is batting in a restrained manner and still has a strike rate in the Shahid Afridi range.
4:04am: Viru has hit the first ball he has faced from 3 of the 5 bowlers today for a four. Welcome to the not-so exclusive club, JP Duminy. Curious that Smith brought you on to bowl in the Power Play overs ahead of Johan Botha. He must be borrowing a leaf from MS Dhoni's (Masada) book - giving JP a much-needed confidence boost.
4:11am: While Viru has been in Seh-whack mode, Sachin has quietly scored a 50 in just 33 balls with only one smidgen of a wuarter-chance that AB de Villiers nearly pulled off with Sachin on 47. An inside-out lofted shot to extra-cover that was nearly converted into a catch by ABD running all the way from long-off. Shades of Manish Pandey's efforts in the Ranji Trophy final last year (but in the opposite direction)
4:29am: By the way, the score is 140 for no loss in 17 overs. Masada had asked the top order to bat longer. They haven't done it yet. Just 17 overs, one-third of the way there. Sehwag, moves miles to his left to cut the ball and cuts the ball onto his stumps. 142 for 1 in 17.4 overs. 73 to Sehwag with 12 fours. Took him 66 balls and also to the top of the run-scorers table for the World Cup (for a brief while, I think, considering the mood that Sachin seems to be in...for the last 3 years it would seem).
4:32am: Johan Botha unleashes the running-backwards-with-your-hands-in-the-air appeal that he picked up from watching Economy Singh. One question, though: if you were sooooooo confident it was out, why did you not refer it? Ah...the rules of excessive appealing have been modified since Mike Denness interpreted it loosely a few years ago, haven't they? (By the way, I think appealing has gone way over the top with everyone screaming their lungs out, so this isn't a dig at Botha specifically. Economy is much worse, especially on the 5th day of a Test match when the opposition is 8 wickets down and he is still wicketless).
4:41am: Johan Botha still has a very distinctive hitch in his action. Or is it evident only to me? There are too many bowlers these days with herky-jerky actions, an enduring legacy of the 15-degree clemency rule meant to eradicate just that.
4:46am: Fast bowlers - 11 overs, 93 runs, 0 wickets. Slow bowlers - 11 overs, 70 runs, 1 wicket. Just saying, that's all.
Caveat: 7 of those overs have come with the field spread but there is a discernible lack of aggression from the batsmen as they have had to generate the pace to take the ball to the boundary. Oh yes, what's that? India has gone in with just 1 specialist spinner? Well, of course, Ashish Nehra needs the confidence-boost. (Okay, okay - that will be my last dig at Masada's statement!)
4:59am: SRT plays in the IPL and hits 4 sixes in the entire tournament and still tops the run-scorers list. In the World Cup, he has already hit 8 sixes. Man on a mission and all that jazz. Pollard leads with 9 sixes so far.
5:03am: Why isn't Abraham Benjamin keeping wickets? He has been flying all over the field so it cannot be that he is not fit. It can't be that Morne van Wyk is a better batsman or keeper. A strike rate of 67 in 10 ODI's with only 2 catches and 1 stumping? Surely, Mark Boucher in his sleep would do as well, if not better, than van Wyk?
5:07am: Manjrekar tells us that the average score in Nagpur in day-night matches is 315 runs. Holy smokes, it's time to change something in favor of the bowlers. My suggestion? Allow one bowler to bowl up to 15 overs in an ODI. Or two to bowl more than 10, one 12 and one 13. This will let teams go in with just 4 bowlers (Yay! Seven batsmen in the side and captains will not even have to justify including that seventh fellow for his once-in-25-games saving blitz.).
5:12am: Sign of the times. Gambhir-SRT put on 50 runs in 63 balls at almost 5 runs an over and it feels like they are going too slowly. We are not that far away from the day when bowlers will be replaced by bowling machines and assistant coaches might actually get to earn some of the money they are paid.
5:14am: Johan Botha, the third-change spinner according to Graeme Smith, has bowled 7 overs for 24 runs. I hope Yusuf Pathan is practicing his off-spinners. He'll have to bowl since my prediction is that the three fast bowlers will not bowl more than 20-25 overs today, if that.
5:18am: At the 30 over stage, 197 for 1. SRT 84, Gambhir 28 in 42 balls. GG is struggling. Ian Chappell's comment that GG is expendable and Suresh Raina needs to come in may be playing on his mind.
5:20am: Gambhir - it's time to jump out to the spinners. Show us why you are widely regarded as one of the best players of spin in the world (and easily the best spin-playing opener in world cricket today.) Forget spinners, I remember him dancing down the wicket to Shane Watson at Delhi to hit a six to bring up a century.
5:25am: At the drinks break, India are 215 for 1 in 32 overs. SRT is on 93 (81) and Gambhir 35 (46). Here's an example of how much cricket has changed. Remember Kris Srikkanth's brilliant, attacking 38 in the 1983 World Cup final at Lord's? He played 57 balls in that inning, with 7 fours and 1 six! Gambhir is positively motoring along compared to Srikkanth, and yet feels like he is just plodding along today.
5:33am: No one plays the inside-out drive over cover after shimmying down the pitch better than Gambhir. Follows that with a predictable sweep to the ball fired down the leg-side and suddenly he is on 46 in 53 balls. SRT is 4 singles away (at least) from a 100. He has one or two of those in his career, I think.
5:37am: Mandatory ball change coming up after 34 overs. I think India bats one more over, lets SRT take the easy singles on offer to get to a century, and then takes the batting Power Play. Smith smartly brings up mid-on and mid-off. Kind of like a Power play without calling for one.
5:39am Abishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu are in the crowd. There must a movie to promote. Let me check on IMDB. Yup, some movie called Dum Maro Dum. How predictable.
5:40am: SRT's quest for a century lasts for one more over. Two runs in the over. Graeme Smith, why didn't you dry up the singles a little earlier? Hindsight, 20-20 vision, and all things related come to mind. By the way, Gautam Gambhir, you need to step it up just a notch so there isn't too much pressure on the other end to score quickly.
5:43am: SRT is on 99 and this just crossed my mind - the fellow, on the verge of his 99th century, has 18 scores in the 90's in ODIs! Wow.
5:44am: I did not jinx him. 99 international centuries for Sachin. What a player. In World Cups alone, in 41 matches, he has scored 2109 runs (and counting), with 6 centuries and an average of just over 60. This alone would be a fabulous career for any player. It is just a shade under 1/9th of this man's career. When Javed Miandad played his sixth ODI, he was a shell of his former self. SRT is not flying by on reputation alone. The deal with the devil is still quite strong. A century in 92 balls, by the way.
5:50am: India, take the Power Play already, will you? It's 37 overs into the game, 9 wickets in hand, 243 runs on the board.
5:53am: SRT manufactures his own Power Play with a fabulous drive on the up through cover off Morkel. 9 runs in 5 balls. It looks to me like he is going into a hit-out-or-get-out mode with Pathan, Dhoni, and Yuvraj still to come.
5:56am: Power Play taken. Over number 38 was just a warm up.
5:58am: Random thought: Yuvraj Singh and Abishek Bachchan look alike to me. Sort of. Biopic anyone?
6:02am: Manjrekar voices what I said a long time ago. "I like it when bowlers appeal so loudly and then don't go for a review."
6:04am: Bang! Bang! Gambhir moves to 68 from 71 balls with two thudding boundaries, one through point, the other through midwicket. Morkel and Smith earnestly discuss the weather in Cape Town.
6:06am: SRT falls 3 runs short of overtaking Sehwag on the run-scorers list in this World Cup. Don't worry, SRT fans, he will very shortly be overtaking Viru. Pathan or Dhoni? Who comes in next? My vote is for Masada. Better player of fast bowling. Well, while Pathan and Kohli were applauding SRT's efforts, Yusuf Pathan ran onto the field to give himself a chance to join the feast. 268 for 2 in 40 overs.
6:09am: Gambhir departs for 69 in 75 balls chipping Steyn to Kallis at mid-off, followed by Pathan for zero. Well, the batting Powerplay has produced 15 runs in 15 balls and three wickets. Even Stevens, as someone would say. Not Steven, of course.
And a lesson for all you captains out there. Don't be so quick to spread the field once the field restrictions are done. Put the onus on the batsmen to take the risks and see what comes of it first.
Shaun Pollock: It's not when you take the Power Play that matters. It how you bat in it that does. How true.
6:16am: All you Indian supporters getting all bent out of shape over the display in this Powerplay so far. Focus on thebig picture: India are 270 for 4 with 9 overs to go. A run a ball gets you to 325. Not bad at all. Forget about what it could have been, focus instead on what it is going to be.
6:18am: Yuvraj Singh launches the ball into the safest part of the ground, right at the sightscreen. Six. Botha lauches an appeal for the ages and then reviews it and it clearly went off the bat. I "saw" it as it happened but Botha did not. Very nicely done, Johan. Not.
6:23am: 9 runs in that over, including that six. Revised target 327 runs.
6:27am: Yuvraj falls and the commentators thunder that South Africa are back in it. I say, context is more important. 283 for 5 with 7 overs still to go is a big total. Powerplay: 5 overs, 30 runs, 4 wickets. A little bit of everything.
6:29am: It's around this time that one wishes Suresh Raina had been persisted with through his trough. Perfect situation for him. Flat wicket, midwicket on the shorter side. I like Virat Kohli but he is a lot like Laxman was when VVS played ODIs - useful in the first half of the inning when the field restrictions are in place and placement is more important than power. He is a misfit after the 35 over mark.
6:32am: Virat Kohli goes, popping up a simple catch. It will take a sizzler from the Masada of old to get to the target of 327 I asked for a few minutes ago. 4 dot balls from Kallis. Nicely done.
6:36am: Okay, commentators. I get it. India could have scored 350-400 but they probably will not. Now move one already, will you? Focus on what is transpiring and not what you would have liked to have happened in your head. Time for Bhajji to attack while Dhoni farms the strike till the 47th over.
292 for 6 in 46 overs.
6:41am: The commentators raise the ghost of 350 again. One more time and I shall mute the commentary, I swear. Bhajji loses his middle stump to Steyn. 1 run in 5 balls from Steyn. That was a yorker. Zaheer Khan, in his pomp, used to bowl them really well. Will he reproduce them today? I doubt it since it is not really a must-win game. And also, he is no longer bowling like he used to. He has come in to bat, though. And he does hold the world record for the highest score ever by a #11 batsman. In a Test match, however. ZAK holes out to a sliding Morne Morkel at long-on. I bet Munaf Patel will be able to duplicate that, if given the chance, once in 100 attempts (the catch I mean, not the stroke).
6:45am: Prior to the match, Masada had asked the Indian top order to bat longer. Now we know why. The rest of the order cannot bat more than 10 overs combined or so it seems. 268 for 2 in 40 overs is obviously not good enough.
6:48am: Finally, Shastri admits that 296 is already a good score. He then blots his copybook by lamenting about what it could have been. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. That's the stuff that Oscars are made of. Nehra departs after catching practice for Smith.
6:52am: How bad a batsman is Munaf Patel? His bat does not have a single sticker on it, not even the manufacturer's. Dude, I can do better than that!
6:53am: Now we know why Munaf does not have a sponsor. He does even get to touch the ball as the first ball, a yorker (naturally), flies past his bat onto middle stump. A Steyn pfeiffer detonates India - all out with 8 balls to go! The dreams of 400 vanish into the nothingness of less than 300.
Realistically speaking, this is actually what the Indian team needed. The batsmen needed a wake-up call to learn a lesson in how not to bat in a Powerplay, and the bowlers need to learn how to contain a top-notch team in spin-friendly conditions. Let's see how the three-pronged seam attack fares on a pitch where the likes of Botha and Peterson were getting appreciable turn.
Mark my words, India will still win this. Batting gets more and more difficult as the inning progresses and the ball gets softer. And don't forget, that nemesis of any batting line-up, the Batting Powerplay, is lying in wait for the SAffers, too.
By the way, Masada, it is time to unleash Bhajji (assuming you were restraining him). No more Economy Singh mode for him. What do you have to lose?
Now we know why the SAffers did not play Imran Tahir? They did not need him!
7:20am: ZAK versus Graeme Smith will be a fun one. But before that the number 1 ODI batsman in the world, Hashim Amla lies in wait. The second ball is a gorgeous cover drive in the Mohammad Yousuf mode for a four.
Oh, by the way, remember Sachin's World Cup stats? 40 innings, 2120 runs, average 58.88, 6 centuries, 13 fifties, highest score 152. Hashim Amla's stats at the start of this inning? 44 innings, 2321 runs, 8 centuries, 12 fifties, average a shade over 59, highest score 140.
7:26am: Good signs for the Indian team - Yuvraj Singh is fielding at point and makes a flying attempt (in vain) to stop a cut shot from Smith. Seeing Yuvraj there is the best sign of the World Cup for me so far from an Indian point of view. If he is really feeling better and can approach the Yuvraj of the past, it will be great news for the Indian team.
7:33am: Watching the Indian fast bowlers in the world is like watching a bizzaro version of the SAffers. Munaf patel and ZAK amble across the turf and concede two runs where one was the par value, and 2 a risky proposition. Yes, these are our bowlers - one skill and not always great at that either. And don't forget I haven't even talked about Ashish Nehra, that man who plonks himself in the middle of the pitch and watches the action unfold once he delivers the ball.
Smith is looking too itchy-fingered, trying to muscle everything. Take a leaf out of Amla's book, Graeme. Placement and timing does it.
7:41am: Amla has played 8 balls in the first 5 overs. Graeme Smith is battling hard to not get out to ZAK and India has raised the stakes to 280 more runs in 45 overs. Nehra is floating along in ZAK's slipstream and stringing together a few dot balls without really looking threatening.
7:44am: Hashim Amla channels the best of his self and sends the ball racing across the turf. SRT gives chase and puts Munaf and co to shame with a slide. Didn't prevent the four but the commitment is there. Methinks, SRT is going to leave the field in a few overs and let Raina prowl the infield in his place. The slide has give him enough ammunition to pretend he has done something to himself.
7:47am: Nehra gives up two boundaries to Amla in what should, surely, be the last time he bowls in the World Cup. India cannot afford to go into the remaining matches with three seamers and Nehra is not really bringing anything special to the table that Munaf does not.
7:52am Years ago, in Morgantown, the Indian restaurant boasted about its 40 item Diwali Special Buffet. They included items such as pickles, curd, and papads in the 40 items. I was reminded of that when Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri discussed the "good variety in the Indian attack". That's like offering your guests different types of snacks and boasting about the varied cuisine on offer.
7:55am: Nehra pitches it near Amla and a twirl of the blade later the ball bounces a couple of times before the extra cover fence. Nehra wanders mid-pitch grinning slightly at Amla. The next ball, predictably is on the leg-stump and Amla does what every batsman of subcontinental origin (bar Ganguly and Sehwag) have done since time immorial - wristily flicked it away to the fence. Amla looking ominous here. Very ominous.
7:57am: Graeme Smith sees the fielders creeping up inside the 30-yard circle and muscles a lofted shot straight over SRT. The very next ball, ZAK gets his revenge. A full ball begging to be smashed to cover instead get hit straight to SRT at mid-off. ZAK gets Smith for the 14th time in his career. Not quite Atherton to McGrath, but it is getting there.
8:01am: Kallis comes in. I'd have preferred to not see AB de Villiers in this spot and so I guess it is a backhanded way of saying I'm happy Kallis is here. Before any SAffer fans point it out I do know that Kallis is, statistically, the greatest (all-round) all-rounder in the history of cricket.
8:03am: Ashish Nehra (4 overs for 27 runs and all) takes a breather and the other variety seamer - Munaf Patel - trundles in with his McGrath-inspired run-up. Hmmm, after bowling the ball he is jogging back to his spot. Keep that up, Munaf, and I may slowly come around to believing that you do care to do more than just bowl.
Oh yes, ZAK's analysis so far? 5-0-13-1. Thank goodness India has at least one bowler who can keep the runs down and threaten to take wickets. Interesting concept that.
Holy Cow! This just occurred to me - the reason India is going in with 3 fast bowlers and 1 spinner is because that is exactly what the Aussies are doing. Only difference, our fast bowlers are fast in the sense that they don't eat anything while they are bowling.
8:14am: Hashim Amla and Virender Sehwag are two batsmen whose expression does not seem to change when they bat. Looking at their faces you cannot really tell whether the ball was hit for a four or defended. The sound of the ball being hit by Amla's bat is so sweet, it's worth raising the volume as high as possible to listen to.
8:19am: "Options galore for India," says Shastri as the camera pans to Economy, Pathan, and Bhajji. I feel much better now.
8:22am: India's best outfielder is a 37 year-old SRT, who is scoffing at my words that he is looking for a reason to leave the field. An important lesson for all of us: if you truly love what you do for a living, life is so much more fun. SRT really looks happy to be there and, boy, it does feel good to know he is still batting like a champion.
8:25am: Mpumelelo Mbwanga reminds us that India scored 29 for 9 in 9 overs to end their inning well short of the 350 that was their birthright. Relax, Pommie. The horse is so dead, beating it would be an insult to all things equine.
8:30am: At the drinks break, South Africa is (are?) 66 for 1 in 15 overs. Need 231 runs in 35 overs (6.6 runs per over from here on in). Amla 35 (39), Kallis 14 (22).
8:36am: Let's see. In 15 overs, South Africa scored 66 runs. So, naturally, as soon as the field restrictions were lifted, Masada dropped 4 guys to the boundary. What? Why?!!! Do all captains take a course in defensive play when they are given the honor of leading a team. A spinner comes on to bowl (Pathan) and even before the batsman has played a ball there are just 4 fielders in the ring. I swear I shall stop talking about it after now but I just want to point out that after the drinks break, The SAffers have scored 8 singles in 12 balls without even having to take a single risk. Well done, Masada, well done.
8:41am: Ahem...Suresh Raina is on the field now. I wonder who has left. Could it be Sachin? As soon as I can figure it out I will let you know. Heaven knows when the commentators will pick up on something like that.
Pommie tells us that Raina is on the field for Ashish Nehra. Ah, yes, so I was wrong about SRT but right about Raina coming in. There is more than one way to skin a cat, I suppose.
9:00am: Many years ago I had a roommate, NJ, who'd watch only the first and last 10 overs of an ODI (this was prior to the implementation of Powerplays). Had he patented his idea he'd have made a fortune but that's not the point of the story. The reason he disliked watching the middle 30 overs was because teams would be content to give and receive singles with the spread field and display no intent to take wickets or risks, respectively.
9:09am: Catches don't come much easier than they just did to Yuvraj Singh off the hapless Economy. Fielding at short-midwicket, Yuvraj charged in, got himself into a tangle and grabbed at the ball that was shoulder-height when it came to him on his left-side (his natural side). Clang! And Amla survives the misfortune of joining a very select group of folks - Junaid Siddique and Matt Prior - fellows who have been dismissed by Economy Singh in this World Cup.
9:17am: Wonder of wonders, Economy Singh picks up Amla with a beautiful delivery that was his hallmark when he first came on the scene and before the doosra ruined his line and loop. The ball was pitched a foot or so outside the off-stump, looped up, inviting the cut shot. Amla promptly obliged, but the ball turned in, bounced higher than expected an too an upper edge/glove into Masada's gloves. Amla walks and Harbhajan makes his first appearance in this World Cup.
9:18am: AB de Villiers comes in, sees just 4 fielders in the ring (naturally) and promptly bunts a single to long-on to get his inning moving along. 133 for 2 in 29 overs. 164 to win in 126 balls, 8 wickets in hand. -38 the equation for the SAffers. If they score a run a ball, they will be 38 runs short of their target. So along the way they need to make up that deficit.
9:24am: The ball is chasing SRT in the field and he is doing very well keeping up with it. Two deliveries later (after a swept boundary) a paddle sweep is escorted by ZAK to the fine-leg fence, showing us that age is just a question of mind over matter. If someone doesn't mind, it does not matter.
After those two boundaries, the SAffer deficit is now at -33.
9:28am: Yuvraj reins it back in courtesy a defensive Kallis and the equation shifts to -36.
9:29am: Take that! ABD saunters down the track and hits Economy for a six. Thwack! Luckily, Economy is still flighting it to ABD. Good for you! ABD and Bhajji have a little chat in the middle, instigated by Bhajji. ABD tries to respond with a six and hits it one bounce to deep midwicket. They continue the conversation. ABD does not seem to have appreciated what Bhajji had to say. Needless stuff, Bhajji. One wicket and he has suddenly found his voice.
Deficit is -34.
9:38am: ZAK is back, replacing Economy. Bowling round the wicket to ABD he gets the ball to move enough to elicit three dot balls on the trot, two off balls that beat the batsman. An inside edge off the 4th ball brings some relief to the South Africans. Umpire Gould has a long chat with ABD. Hmmmm, did ABD say something inappropriate, too? ZAK completes the over by preventing any further runs. Only 1 run in the over. ZAK 6-0-14-1.
Deficit climbs back to -39 with 96 balls to go.
That dangerous bait for batsmen - the Batting Powerplay - still looms ahead. ZAK has 4 more overs to go.
9:44am: An exquisite inside out cover drive by ABD sails one bounce over the fence, followed by a comfortable double to the square-leg umpire.
Deficit is -37 with 90 balls to go. ZAK continues with the new ball (changed after the previous ZAK over). The 2.5m rule raises its ugly head again and Kallis survives an LBW. Fair enough, considering the rule they have in place for the LBW but I am not a fan of that adjustment to the rule.
9:52am: Masada runs out Kallis! The recrods and replays will show that Harbhajan fired in a throw even as Kallis was struggling to come back for a second run, but Dhoni collected it on the bounce to the side of the stumps and in the same motion, while rolling over, smashed the stumps with Kallis well out! 173 for 3! Yesterday, Bangladesh nearly imploded when Kayes got run out going for a second run. Who will duplicate a Mahmudullah for South Africa today?
ZAK finishes the over giving away just 3 runs. ZAK 7-0-17-1. Deficit is now at -40. Powerplay taken. Ashish Nehra, two years removed from his heydays as India's death-over specialist comes back.
9:58am: Nehra has a field designed for a fuller ball. So, naturally, he bowls a shorter one outside the off-stump and Jean Paul Duminy guides it to the third man fence. Nehra indicates that the boundary rope at third man was to blame for that. I think.
By the way, Ashish, I am watching closely. You have not learned the need to go back to the stumps, have you? Two years in the wilderness have been spent practising the art of standing around mid-pitch with a sheepish grin on your face while the other 10 players are running around. Nice work.
10 runs in the over. Equation dips to -36 off 84 balls.
10:04am: ABD and Masada have a foot race to the stumps and ABD beats out Masada. Barely. I'd pay to see a 40yard dash to settle who is the faster runner among the two of them. Based on what I have seen in the field, I think ABD pips Masada. But only just.
10:08am: Imran Tahir sighting! Looks fine except for a thick, big bandage on that broken left thumb of his. How the SAffers wish they had him today to stop the rampage. Oh wait.
10:11am: ABD is limping and gets a runner. Does not stop him from taking half a run, remembering that he is injured, and then going back to safety. 28 runs so far in 3 overs of the Powerplay, no wickets in sight. I hope Gary Kirsten is taking notes.
Deficit -30 with 66 balls to go. I still say India is ahead, but the balance is shifting. Five years ago, it would have been almost insurmountable. After the advent of T20, it seems like a very do-able task.
10:18am: Length ball after length ball. Thwack, thwack, thwack. Four, four, six. ZAK's yorkers are in the distant past. Ay caramba! The SAffers are dominating the Powerplay. Nice. Writers everywhere are finding that point around which to peg their stories - the disparity in the results of the two Batting Powerplays for the two teams.
Deficit is only -19 now. What a big over.
What the Indians have going for them is that history tells us that the SAffers have one stutter left in them.
10:22am: ABD essays a very nice reverse sweep, almost reaching the third man fence on the full. I am not quite sure how he has hurt himself enough to be limping between deliveries, but his footwork does not seem to have been impeded. That's a nice injury to have. Deficit is dropping, and how! 50 runs in 38 balls.
10:25am: Ah! Is this the start of the stutter? ABD bends low, connects powerfully with a sweep shot and finds Virat Kohli who takes a sart catch, and then spoils it somewhat by using words his parents did not definitely teach him to tell ABD to leave the field.
52 runs in the Powerplay for the loss of 1 wicket. But that was a big wicket.
Deficit -18 in 54 balls. Yuvraj, India's leading spinner in this World Cup, comes on to bowl.
10:22am: ABD essays a very nice reverse sweep, almost reaching the third man fence on the full. I am not quite sure how he has hurt himself enough to be limping between deliveries, but his footwork does not seem to have been impeded. That's a nice injury to have. Deficit is dropping, and how! 50 runs in 38 balls.
10:25am: Ah! Is this the start of the stutter? ABD bends low, connects powerfully with a sweep shot and finds Virat Kohli who takes a sart catch, and then spoils it somewhat by using words his parents did not definitely teach him to tell ABD to leave the field.
52 runs in the Powerplay for the loss of 1 wicket. But that was a big wicket.
Deficit -18 in 54 balls. Yuvraj, India's leading spinner in this World Cup, comes on to bowl.
10:31am: du Plesis comes in, sees out a couple of bals, decides enough is enough and dumps Yuvraj beyond the fence for a pressure-lifting six. Right on cue, Shastri "gets the feeling that this match is going down to the wire."
10:33am: Masada stumps Duminy off Harbhajan Singh but this is not one that he will show in his Hall of Fame video. A wide down the leg-side is fumbled not once, not twice, but thrice by Dhoni before he manages to take the bails off. JPD had wandered so far down the wicket that he was about 5 steps down the wicket before he turned around.
Yup, the stutter has officially started.
Deficit -15, 42 balls to go.
I get the feeling that Shastri is going to use the "dot balls are like gold dust" line pretty soon.
10:42am: Gautam Gambhir overruns a catch, slips in trying to plant his foot, misses the ball and gives up a four. van Wyk is away! No worries, though. Two balls later, Munaf Patel nails van Wyk in front of the stumps while attempting a reverse sweep, and the 6th wicket is down.
Deficit is -14, 36 balls to go. 4 wickets in hand.
Suresh Raina is now firmly prowling in the field. I am guessing Ashish Nehra's day is done. Bat for a ball or two, give catching practice, bowl a few overs, stand around in the middle of the pitch for a while, run around in the field for a few more minutes, and then cool your heels. Get paid more than the pure sucker who runs around in your place. Nice work, if you can convince someone to pay you hundreds of thousands for it.
Deficit -16, 30 balls to go.
10:50am: Third man is fine, long-on and long-off in place, so the expectation is that the bal will be fuller and straighter. Everyone got the memo except the bowler, Munaf. Short, wide, four. Easy as that. What should be singles are converted to twos in the outfield, one to Bhajji and one to ZAK. 10 runs in that over.
Deficit -12, 24 balls to go.
Ashish Nehra sighting! Hmmm....so who's off the field then? The guessing game continues...I say it is Sehwag. Very smart rolling substitution employed by the Indians. That way no single player gets pointed to as the culprit. How long before the rest of the teams catch on (or does every team do the same thing?).
5 runs in the over.
Deficit -13, 18 balls to go.
10:59am: The lost art of the yorker. Munaf Patel dishes out some length bowling with no change in pace. Johan Botha loves it, slog-driving it to deep midwicket. Virat Kohli tries to mop up Munaf's mess with a valiant effort but the ball gently rolls into the boundary.
11:00am: One more length ball and Botha says, "Take that!". Well, not literally, but it felt like that. The ball flew about 10 rows behind long-off. The SAffers can't lose from here, can they?!
11:02am: Well, they might not lose, but they wont go without making this game closer. Needing just 18 runs in 14 balls, Botha goes for glory. And finds it. Only glory is named Suresh Raina who runs in from long-off, does not take his eyes off the ball, and then pouches it Why, Botha, why?
Deficit -5, 12 balls to go, 3 wickets left.
All I have to say is this. Don't take another wicket. Morne Morkel can hit sixes very easily. Don't let it get to him.
11:08am: ZAK bowls full. The batsmen take four squirty singles, and gets beaten by two of them. Shastri's prescience is remarkable. It HAS come down to the wire.
-7 deficit, 6 balls to go. So, in other words: 13 runs to win, 6 balls to go.
Masada decides to go with Ashish Nehra. Last year he was Masada's death-over specialist. Where is he today? We'll find out in 6 balls.
Ball 1: Inside-edged for four! 9 runs in 5 balls. No one to be blamed for that. Both the batsman and the bowlers need to stay calm. The calmest man on the ground is behind the stumps.
Ball 2: Nope! Peterson enjoys the pace and he swings it Wasim Akram/Mitchell Johnson style over midwicket. It was a length delivery, with no change in pace or anything. Easy as that.
Stay smart, South Africa. No hero shots.
Ball 3: Finally a yorker, dug out to fine-leg and they run a brace to tie the score.
Ball 4: We don't need 6 balls to find out whether Nehra will bowl any more overs at the end. 4 are enough. Peterson finds a gap in the cover region and South Africa do what India could not - reach a total of 300. They even had two balls to spare.
Good win for South Africa. It will help them ease the chokers tag a little bit. They tried a lot to give it away in the middle and if Peterson's first ball of the last over had inner-edged into the stumps, something else would have been written. But the SAffers bowled well in the last 10 overs and batted well enough all the way through to deserve this.
By the way, Masada. Here are the analyses for your 2nd and third fast bowlers:
Munaf Patel: 10-0-65-2
Ashish Nehra: 8.4-0-65-0
The two part-time spinners combined: 12-0-67-0. Yes, yes, yes, the 3 seamers idea needs to be rested now. Surely, R. Ashwin deserves to be in there instead of Ashish Nehra.
Okay, that was fun. The most important lesson learned from today? Sachin, do not score any more centuries in this World Cup. When you do, the opposition thinks batting is really easy and they chase down your team's totals.
2:55am: Further signs that the world in indeed going to end in 2012 - India goes into a cricket match at home with fewer specialist spinners than South Africa. India adopts the horses for courses strategy and takes just Harbhajan (Economy) Singh into the game. Of course, the course we are preparing for is a South African one. I hope Yuvraj Singh takes a few wickets. After all, Economy has been told by his captain to not worry about wickets as long as he contains the scoring.
By the way, just as it is not uncommon for my students to develop those 24-hour flus on the day of an exam, now that South Africa have made the quarter-final, leg-spinner Imran Tahir has a fractured thumb on his non-bowling hand that will take 10 days to heal. Just enough time to miss out on the rest of the league games but not too long that he will miss any of the knock-out games. Along the way, it surprised no one (and I predicted this would happen before the World Cup in an email to a friend) Tahir picks up the injury on the eve of the match against India.
3:05am: Everyone has all kinds of superstitions about the first ball they face. A player on my team (JJ) always shoulders the bat and lets the first ball go, another (FXO) likes to swing as hard as possible and hit a six. Sehwag likes to hit a four. Ho-hum, another first ball 4 for Virender Sehwag - the fifth time he has done so in 5 World Cup games this year.
3:10am: Ravi Shastri, not one of my favorite commentators by any stretch of imagination, calls this a "good pitch" because "the ball is coming on nicely and batsmen can hit through the line". A long time ago, before he grew up and became a stodgy batsman with an eye on Audi's and pretty women, Shastri used to be a pretty good left-arm spinner. Then he was shown the light by Sunil Gavaskar, I suppose.
3:25am: I bet Shastri's idea of a perfect game would be the first 1000 run game in an ODI. The way Sehwag is batting and India is bowling, it could be on the cards today. Morne van Wyck channels his inner Kamran Akmal and lets an edged ball off Sehwag harmlessly go by about a couple of feet to his right. Graeme Smith, no doubt used to Boucher puching catches for fun next to him, does not move either. Sehwag, please meet your gift horse. They don't come much better wrapped than this.
3:40am: After 8 overs, India are 70 for no loss. 7 singles, 12 fours, 1 five, 1 three. In other words, a typical opening partnership for the world's most boundary-happy team. Sehwag enters the 40's, the most dangerous time in an inning for him.
3:48am: "That was a signature dish from the Tendulkar cuisine, gushes Sanjay Manjrekar after seeing a replay of a picture perfect straight drive, right out of the textbook, by SRT off Morne Morkel. If that was an unrehearsed line, take a bow, Manjrekar.
3:52am: On CricInfo's (always entertaining) cricket commentary comes this gem of a metaphor from someone named Archit. "Watching Sehwag play is like throwing an ice-cream in the air and catching it with your mouth. It's exhilarating if it works out, and you go hungry if it doesn't." India scores 87 for no loss in 10 overs, SRT 35 (20 balls), Viru 46 (41 balls).
3:56am: After picking enough spinners (not named Tahir) to fill up a couple of Noah's Ark, Graeme Smith shows his captaincy nous by not using them in the first 11 overs. Stay with my for a minute. Viru and SRT have shown that they are enjoying the pace that is being thrown their way. The only balls that they have not creamed to the fence have been the slower ones. All tournament long, Smith began with a spinner to great success, as England will attest. Today, he eschewed this strategy based on the reputation of his opposition. Either it was a tactical ploy to not show their hand for the knockout stage or another example of a captain better suited to a game of book cricket. Take a chance, Smith. Sehwag is more likely to self-destruct against a spinner than he is to the express pace of Steyn, Morkel (or even Kallis).
4:00am: Sehwag survives the nervous 40's, the first hour, and the SAffer pace attack. Spin is on and, not surprisingly, Viru steps towards the square-leg umpire and lofts the first ball inside out to the cover boundary to reach a 50. That took him 11.2 overs. And he played 46 balls to get there. It's a world gone crazy out there - Sehwag is batting in a restrained manner and still has a strike rate in the Shahid Afridi range.
4:04am: Viru has hit the first ball he has faced from 3 of the 5 bowlers today for a four. Welcome to the not-so exclusive club, JP Duminy. Curious that Smith brought you on to bowl in the Power Play overs ahead of Johan Botha. He must be borrowing a leaf from MS Dhoni's (Masada) book - giving JP a much-needed confidence boost.
4:11am: While Viru has been in Seh-whack mode, Sachin has quietly scored a 50 in just 33 balls with only one smidgen of a wuarter-chance that AB de Villiers nearly pulled off with Sachin on 47. An inside-out lofted shot to extra-cover that was nearly converted into a catch by ABD running all the way from long-off. Shades of Manish Pandey's efforts in the Ranji Trophy final last year (but in the opposite direction)
4:29am: By the way, the score is 140 for no loss in 17 overs. Masada had asked the top order to bat longer. They haven't done it yet. Just 17 overs, one-third of the way there. Sehwag, moves miles to his left to cut the ball and cuts the ball onto his stumps. 142 for 1 in 17.4 overs. 73 to Sehwag with 12 fours. Took him 66 balls and also to the top of the run-scorers table for the World Cup (for a brief while, I think, considering the mood that Sachin seems to be in...for the last 3 years it would seem).
4:32am: Johan Botha unleashes the running-backwards-with-your-hands-in-the-air appeal that he picked up from watching Economy Singh. One question, though: if you were sooooooo confident it was out, why did you not refer it? Ah...the rules of excessive appealing have been modified since Mike Denness interpreted it loosely a few years ago, haven't they? (By the way, I think appealing has gone way over the top with everyone screaming their lungs out, so this isn't a dig at Botha specifically. Economy is much worse, especially on the 5th day of a Test match when the opposition is 8 wickets down and he is still wicketless).
4:41am: Johan Botha still has a very distinctive hitch in his action. Or is it evident only to me? There are too many bowlers these days with herky-jerky actions, an enduring legacy of the 15-degree clemency rule meant to eradicate just that.
4:46am: Fast bowlers - 11 overs, 93 runs, 0 wickets. Slow bowlers - 11 overs, 70 runs, 1 wicket. Just saying, that's all.
Caveat: 7 of those overs have come with the field spread but there is a discernible lack of aggression from the batsmen as they have had to generate the pace to take the ball to the boundary. Oh yes, what's that? India has gone in with just 1 specialist spinner? Well, of course, Ashish Nehra needs the confidence-boost. (Okay, okay - that will be my last dig at Masada's statement!)
4:59am: SRT plays in the IPL and hits 4 sixes in the entire tournament and still tops the run-scorers list. In the World Cup, he has already hit 8 sixes. Man on a mission and all that jazz. Pollard leads with 9 sixes so far.
5:03am: Why isn't Abraham Benjamin keeping wickets? He has been flying all over the field so it cannot be that he is not fit. It can't be that Morne van Wyk is a better batsman or keeper. A strike rate of 67 in 10 ODI's with only 2 catches and 1 stumping? Surely, Mark Boucher in his sleep would do as well, if not better, than van Wyk?
5:07am: Manjrekar tells us that the average score in Nagpur in day-night matches is 315 runs. Holy smokes, it's time to change something in favor of the bowlers. My suggestion? Allow one bowler to bowl up to 15 overs in an ODI. Or two to bowl more than 10, one 12 and one 13. This will let teams go in with just 4 bowlers (Yay! Seven batsmen in the side and captains will not even have to justify including that seventh fellow for his once-in-25-games saving blitz.).
5:12am: Sign of the times. Gambhir-SRT put on 50 runs in 63 balls at almost 5 runs an over and it feels like they are going too slowly. We are not that far away from the day when bowlers will be replaced by bowling machines and assistant coaches might actually get to earn some of the money they are paid.
5:14am: Johan Botha, the third-change spinner according to Graeme Smith, has bowled 7 overs for 24 runs. I hope Yusuf Pathan is practicing his off-spinners. He'll have to bowl since my prediction is that the three fast bowlers will not bowl more than 20-25 overs today, if that.
5:18am: At the 30 over stage, 197 for 1. SRT 84, Gambhir 28 in 42 balls. GG is struggling. Ian Chappell's comment that GG is expendable and Suresh Raina needs to come in may be playing on his mind.
5:20am: Gambhir - it's time to jump out to the spinners. Show us why you are widely regarded as one of the best players of spin in the world (and easily the best spin-playing opener in world cricket today.) Forget spinners, I remember him dancing down the wicket to Shane Watson at Delhi to hit a six to bring up a century.
5:25am: At the drinks break, India are 215 for 1 in 32 overs. SRT is on 93 (81) and Gambhir 35 (46). Here's an example of how much cricket has changed. Remember Kris Srikkanth's brilliant, attacking 38 in the 1983 World Cup final at Lord's? He played 57 balls in that inning, with 7 fours and 1 six! Gambhir is positively motoring along compared to Srikkanth, and yet feels like he is just plodding along today.
5:33am: No one plays the inside-out drive over cover after shimmying down the pitch better than Gambhir. Follows that with a predictable sweep to the ball fired down the leg-side and suddenly he is on 46 in 53 balls. SRT is 4 singles away (at least) from a 100. He has one or two of those in his career, I think.
5:37am: Mandatory ball change coming up after 34 overs. I think India bats one more over, lets SRT take the easy singles on offer to get to a century, and then takes the batting Power Play. Smith smartly brings up mid-on and mid-off. Kind of like a Power play without calling for one.
5:39am Abishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu are in the crowd. There must a movie to promote. Let me check on IMDB. Yup, some movie called Dum Maro Dum. How predictable.
5:40am: SRT's quest for a century lasts for one more over. Two runs in the over. Graeme Smith, why didn't you dry up the singles a little earlier? Hindsight, 20-20 vision, and all things related come to mind. By the way, Gautam Gambhir, you need to step it up just a notch so there isn't too much pressure on the other end to score quickly.
5:43am: SRT is on 99 and this just crossed my mind - the fellow, on the verge of his 99th century, has 18 scores in the 90's in ODIs! Wow.
5:44am: I did not jinx him. 99 international centuries for Sachin. What a player. In World Cups alone, in 41 matches, he has scored 2109 runs (and counting), with 6 centuries and an average of just over 60. This alone would be a fabulous career for any player. It is just a shade under 1/9th of this man's career. When Javed Miandad played his sixth ODI, he was a shell of his former self. SRT is not flying by on reputation alone. The deal with the devil is still quite strong. A century in 92 balls, by the way.
5:50am: India, take the Power Play already, will you? It's 37 overs into the game, 9 wickets in hand, 243 runs on the board.
5:53am: SRT manufactures his own Power Play with a fabulous drive on the up through cover off Morkel. 9 runs in 5 balls. It looks to me like he is going into a hit-out-or-get-out mode with Pathan, Dhoni, and Yuvraj still to come.
5:56am: Power Play taken. Over number 38 was just a warm up.
5:58am: Random thought: Yuvraj Singh and Abishek Bachchan look alike to me. Sort of. Biopic anyone?
6:02am: Manjrekar voices what I said a long time ago. "I like it when bowlers appeal so loudly and then don't go for a review."
6:04am: Bang! Bang! Gambhir moves to 68 from 71 balls with two thudding boundaries, one through point, the other through midwicket. Morkel and Smith earnestly discuss the weather in Cape Town.
6:06am: SRT falls 3 runs short of overtaking Sehwag on the run-scorers list in this World Cup. Don't worry, SRT fans, he will very shortly be overtaking Viru. Pathan or Dhoni? Who comes in next? My vote is for Masada. Better player of fast bowling. Well, while Pathan and Kohli were applauding SRT's efforts, Yusuf Pathan ran onto the field to give himself a chance to join the feast. 268 for 2 in 40 overs.
6:09am: Gambhir departs for 69 in 75 balls chipping Steyn to Kallis at mid-off, followed by Pathan for zero. Well, the batting Powerplay has produced 15 runs in 15 balls and three wickets. Even Stevens, as someone would say. Not Steven, of course.
And a lesson for all you captains out there. Don't be so quick to spread the field once the field restrictions are done. Put the onus on the batsmen to take the risks and see what comes of it first.
Shaun Pollock: It's not when you take the Power Play that matters. It how you bat in it that does. How true.
6:16am: All you Indian supporters getting all bent out of shape over the display in this Powerplay so far. Focus on thebig picture: India are 270 for 4 with 9 overs to go. A run a ball gets you to 325. Not bad at all. Forget about what it could have been, focus instead on what it is going to be.
6:18am: Yuvraj Singh launches the ball into the safest part of the ground, right at the sightscreen. Six. Botha lauches an appeal for the ages and then reviews it and it clearly went off the bat. I "saw" it as it happened but Botha did not. Very nicely done, Johan. Not.
6:23am: 9 runs in that over, including that six. Revised target 327 runs.
6:27am: Yuvraj falls and the commentators thunder that South Africa are back in it. I say, context is more important. 283 for 5 with 7 overs still to go is a big total. Powerplay: 5 overs, 30 runs, 4 wickets. A little bit of everything.
6:29am: It's around this time that one wishes Suresh Raina had been persisted with through his trough. Perfect situation for him. Flat wicket, midwicket on the shorter side. I like Virat Kohli but he is a lot like Laxman was when VVS played ODIs - useful in the first half of the inning when the field restrictions are in place and placement is more important than power. He is a misfit after the 35 over mark.
6:32am: Virat Kohli goes, popping up a simple catch. It will take a sizzler from the Masada of old to get to the target of 327 I asked for a few minutes ago. 4 dot balls from Kallis. Nicely done.
6:36am: Okay, commentators. I get it. India could have scored 350-400 but they probably will not. Now move one already, will you? Focus on what is transpiring and not what you would have liked to have happened in your head. Time for Bhajji to attack while Dhoni farms the strike till the 47th over.
292 for 6 in 46 overs.
6:41am: The commentators raise the ghost of 350 again. One more time and I shall mute the commentary, I swear. Bhajji loses his middle stump to Steyn. 1 run in 5 balls from Steyn. That was a yorker. Zaheer Khan, in his pomp, used to bowl them really well. Will he reproduce them today? I doubt it since it is not really a must-win game. And also, he is no longer bowling like he used to. He has come in to bat, though. And he does hold the world record for the highest score ever by a #11 batsman. In a Test match, however. ZAK holes out to a sliding Morne Morkel at long-on. I bet Munaf Patel will be able to duplicate that, if given the chance, once in 100 attempts (the catch I mean, not the stroke).
6:45am: Prior to the match, Masada had asked the Indian top order to bat longer. Now we know why. The rest of the order cannot bat more than 10 overs combined or so it seems. 268 for 2 in 40 overs is obviously not good enough.
6:48am: Finally, Shastri admits that 296 is already a good score. He then blots his copybook by lamenting about what it could have been. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. That's the stuff that Oscars are made of. Nehra departs after catching practice for Smith.
6:52am: How bad a batsman is Munaf Patel? His bat does not have a single sticker on it, not even the manufacturer's. Dude, I can do better than that!
6:53am: Now we know why Munaf does not have a sponsor. He does even get to touch the ball as the first ball, a yorker (naturally), flies past his bat onto middle stump. A Steyn pfeiffer detonates India - all out with 8 balls to go! The dreams of 400 vanish into the nothingness of less than 300.
Realistically speaking, this is actually what the Indian team needed. The batsmen needed a wake-up call to learn a lesson in how not to bat in a Powerplay, and the bowlers need to learn how to contain a top-notch team in spin-friendly conditions. Let's see how the three-pronged seam attack fares on a pitch where the likes of Botha and Peterson were getting appreciable turn.
Mark my words, India will still win this. Batting gets more and more difficult as the inning progresses and the ball gets softer. And don't forget, that nemesis of any batting line-up, the Batting Powerplay, is lying in wait for the SAffers, too.
By the way, Masada, it is time to unleash Bhajji (assuming you were restraining him). No more Economy Singh mode for him. What do you have to lose?
Now we know why the SAffers did not play Imran Tahir? They did not need him!
7:20am: ZAK versus Graeme Smith will be a fun one. But before that the number 1 ODI batsman in the world, Hashim Amla lies in wait. The second ball is a gorgeous cover drive in the Mohammad Yousuf mode for a four.
Oh, by the way, remember Sachin's World Cup stats? 40 innings, 2120 runs, average 58.88, 6 centuries, 13 fifties, highest score 152. Hashim Amla's stats at the start of this inning? 44 innings, 2321 runs, 8 centuries, 12 fifties, average a shade over 59, highest score 140.
7:26am: Good signs for the Indian team - Yuvraj Singh is fielding at point and makes a flying attempt (in vain) to stop a cut shot from Smith. Seeing Yuvraj there is the best sign of the World Cup for me so far from an Indian point of view. If he is really feeling better and can approach the Yuvraj of the past, it will be great news for the Indian team.
7:33am: Watching the Indian fast bowlers in the world is like watching a bizzaro version of the SAffers. Munaf patel and ZAK amble across the turf and concede two runs where one was the par value, and 2 a risky proposition. Yes, these are our bowlers - one skill and not always great at that either. And don't forget I haven't even talked about Ashish Nehra, that man who plonks himself in the middle of the pitch and watches the action unfold once he delivers the ball.
Smith is looking too itchy-fingered, trying to muscle everything. Take a leaf out of Amla's book, Graeme. Placement and timing does it.
7:41am: Amla has played 8 balls in the first 5 overs. Graeme Smith is battling hard to not get out to ZAK and India has raised the stakes to 280 more runs in 45 overs. Nehra is floating along in ZAK's slipstream and stringing together a few dot balls without really looking threatening.
7:44am: Hashim Amla channels the best of his self and sends the ball racing across the turf. SRT gives chase and puts Munaf and co to shame with a slide. Didn't prevent the four but the commitment is there. Methinks, SRT is going to leave the field in a few overs and let Raina prowl the infield in his place. The slide has give him enough ammunition to pretend he has done something to himself.
7:47am: Nehra gives up two boundaries to Amla in what should, surely, be the last time he bowls in the World Cup. India cannot afford to go into the remaining matches with three seamers and Nehra is not really bringing anything special to the table that Munaf does not.
7:52am Years ago, in Morgantown, the Indian restaurant boasted about its 40 item Diwali Special Buffet. They included items such as pickles, curd, and papads in the 40 items. I was reminded of that when Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri discussed the "good variety in the Indian attack". That's like offering your guests different types of snacks and boasting about the varied cuisine on offer.
7:55am: Nehra pitches it near Amla and a twirl of the blade later the ball bounces a couple of times before the extra cover fence. Nehra wanders mid-pitch grinning slightly at Amla. The next ball, predictably is on the leg-stump and Amla does what every batsman of subcontinental origin (bar Ganguly and Sehwag) have done since time immorial - wristily flicked it away to the fence. Amla looking ominous here. Very ominous.
7:57am: Graeme Smith sees the fielders creeping up inside the 30-yard circle and muscles a lofted shot straight over SRT. The very next ball, ZAK gets his revenge. A full ball begging to be smashed to cover instead get hit straight to SRT at mid-off. ZAK gets Smith for the 14th time in his career. Not quite Atherton to McGrath, but it is getting there.
8:01am: Kallis comes in. I'd have preferred to not see AB de Villiers in this spot and so I guess it is a backhanded way of saying I'm happy Kallis is here. Before any SAffer fans point it out I do know that Kallis is, statistically, the greatest (all-round) all-rounder in the history of cricket.
8:03am: Ashish Nehra (4 overs for 27 runs and all) takes a breather and the other variety seamer - Munaf Patel - trundles in with his McGrath-inspired run-up. Hmmm, after bowling the ball he is jogging back to his spot. Keep that up, Munaf, and I may slowly come around to believing that you do care to do more than just bowl.
Oh yes, ZAK's analysis so far? 5-0-13-1. Thank goodness India has at least one bowler who can keep the runs down and threaten to take wickets. Interesting concept that.
Holy Cow! This just occurred to me - the reason India is going in with 3 fast bowlers and 1 spinner is because that is exactly what the Aussies are doing. Only difference, our fast bowlers are fast in the sense that they don't eat anything while they are bowling.
8:14am: Hashim Amla and Virender Sehwag are two batsmen whose expression does not seem to change when they bat. Looking at their faces you cannot really tell whether the ball was hit for a four or defended. The sound of the ball being hit by Amla's bat is so sweet, it's worth raising the volume as high as possible to listen to.
8:19am: "Options galore for India," says Shastri as the camera pans to Economy, Pathan, and Bhajji. I feel much better now.
8:22am: India's best outfielder is a 37 year-old SRT, who is scoffing at my words that he is looking for a reason to leave the field. An important lesson for all of us: if you truly love what you do for a living, life is so much more fun. SRT really looks happy to be there and, boy, it does feel good to know he is still batting like a champion.
8:25am: Mpumelelo Mbwanga reminds us that India scored 29 for 9 in 9 overs to end their inning well short of the 350 that was their birthright. Relax, Pommie. The horse is so dead, beating it would be an insult to all things equine.
8:30am: At the drinks break, South Africa is (are?) 66 for 1 in 15 overs. Need 231 runs in 35 overs (6.6 runs per over from here on in). Amla 35 (39), Kallis 14 (22).
8:36am: Let's see. In 15 overs, South Africa scored 66 runs. So, naturally, as soon as the field restrictions were lifted, Masada dropped 4 guys to the boundary. What? Why?!!! Do all captains take a course in defensive play when they are given the honor of leading a team. A spinner comes on to bowl (Pathan) and even before the batsman has played a ball there are just 4 fielders in the ring. I swear I shall stop talking about it after now but I just want to point out that after the drinks break, The SAffers have scored 8 singles in 12 balls without even having to take a single risk. Well done, Masada, well done.
8:41am: Ahem...Suresh Raina is on the field now. I wonder who has left. Could it be Sachin? As soon as I can figure it out I will let you know. Heaven knows when the commentators will pick up on something like that.
Pommie tells us that Raina is on the field for Ashish Nehra. Ah, yes, so I was wrong about SRT but right about Raina coming in. There is more than one way to skin a cat, I suppose.
9:00am: Many years ago I had a roommate, NJ, who'd watch only the first and last 10 overs of an ODI (this was prior to the implementation of Powerplays). Had he patented his idea he'd have made a fortune but that's not the point of the story. The reason he disliked watching the middle 30 overs was because teams would be content to give and receive singles with the spread field and display no intent to take wickets or risks, respectively.
9:09am: Catches don't come much easier than they just did to Yuvraj Singh off the hapless Economy. Fielding at short-midwicket, Yuvraj charged in, got himself into a tangle and grabbed at the ball that was shoulder-height when it came to him on his left-side (his natural side). Clang! And Amla survives the misfortune of joining a very select group of folks - Junaid Siddique and Matt Prior - fellows who have been dismissed by Economy Singh in this World Cup.
9:17am: Wonder of wonders, Economy Singh picks up Amla with a beautiful delivery that was his hallmark when he first came on the scene and before the doosra ruined his line and loop. The ball was pitched a foot or so outside the off-stump, looped up, inviting the cut shot. Amla promptly obliged, but the ball turned in, bounced higher than expected an too an upper edge/glove into Masada's gloves. Amla walks and Harbhajan makes his first appearance in this World Cup.
9:18am: AB de Villiers comes in, sees just 4 fielders in the ring (naturally) and promptly bunts a single to long-on to get his inning moving along. 133 for 2 in 29 overs. 164 to win in 126 balls, 8 wickets in hand. -38 the equation for the SAffers. If they score a run a ball, they will be 38 runs short of their target. So along the way they need to make up that deficit.
9:24am: The ball is chasing SRT in the field and he is doing very well keeping up with it. Two deliveries later (after a swept boundary) a paddle sweep is escorted by ZAK to the fine-leg fence, showing us that age is just a question of mind over matter. If someone doesn't mind, it does not matter.
After those two boundaries, the SAffer deficit is now at -33.
9:28am: Yuvraj reins it back in courtesy a defensive Kallis and the equation shifts to -36.
9:29am: Take that! ABD saunters down the track and hits Economy for a six. Thwack! Luckily, Economy is still flighting it to ABD. Good for you! ABD and Bhajji have a little chat in the middle, instigated by Bhajji. ABD tries to respond with a six and hits it one bounce to deep midwicket. They continue the conversation. ABD does not seem to have appreciated what Bhajji had to say. Needless stuff, Bhajji. One wicket and he has suddenly found his voice.
Deficit is -34.
9:38am: ZAK is back, replacing Economy. Bowling round the wicket to ABD he gets the ball to move enough to elicit three dot balls on the trot, two off balls that beat the batsman. An inside edge off the 4th ball brings some relief to the South Africans. Umpire Gould has a long chat with ABD. Hmmmm, did ABD say something inappropriate, too? ZAK completes the over by preventing any further runs. Only 1 run in the over. ZAK 6-0-14-1.
Deficit climbs back to -39 with 96 balls to go.
That dangerous bait for batsmen - the Batting Powerplay - still looms ahead. ZAK has 4 more overs to go.
9:44am: An exquisite inside out cover drive by ABD sails one bounce over the fence, followed by a comfortable double to the square-leg umpire.
Deficit is -37 with 90 balls to go. ZAK continues with the new ball (changed after the previous ZAK over). The 2.5m rule raises its ugly head again and Kallis survives an LBW. Fair enough, considering the rule they have in place for the LBW but I am not a fan of that adjustment to the rule.
9:52am: Masada runs out Kallis! The recrods and replays will show that Harbhajan fired in a throw even as Kallis was struggling to come back for a second run, but Dhoni collected it on the bounce to the side of the stumps and in the same motion, while rolling over, smashed the stumps with Kallis well out! 173 for 3! Yesterday, Bangladesh nearly imploded when Kayes got run out going for a second run. Who will duplicate a Mahmudullah for South Africa today?
ZAK finishes the over giving away just 3 runs. ZAK 7-0-17-1. Deficit is now at -40. Powerplay taken. Ashish Nehra, two years removed from his heydays as India's death-over specialist comes back.
9:58am: Nehra has a field designed for a fuller ball. So, naturally, he bowls a shorter one outside the off-stump and Jean Paul Duminy guides it to the third man fence. Nehra indicates that the boundary rope at third man was to blame for that. I think.
By the way, Ashish, I am watching closely. You have not learned the need to go back to the stumps, have you? Two years in the wilderness have been spent practising the art of standing around mid-pitch with a sheepish grin on your face while the other 10 players are running around. Nice work.
10 runs in the over. Equation dips to -36 off 84 balls.
10:04am: ABD and Masada have a foot race to the stumps and ABD beats out Masada. Barely. I'd pay to see a 40yard dash to settle who is the faster runner among the two of them. Based on what I have seen in the field, I think ABD pips Masada. But only just.
10:08am: Imran Tahir sighting! Looks fine except for a thick, big bandage on that broken left thumb of his. How the SAffers wish they had him today to stop the rampage. Oh wait.
10:11am: ABD is limping and gets a runner. Does not stop him from taking half a run, remembering that he is injured, and then going back to safety. 28 runs so far in 3 overs of the Powerplay, no wickets in sight. I hope Gary Kirsten is taking notes.
Deficit -30 with 66 balls to go. I still say India is ahead, but the balance is shifting. Five years ago, it would have been almost insurmountable. After the advent of T20, it seems like a very do-able task.
10:18am: Length ball after length ball. Thwack, thwack, thwack. Four, four, six. ZAK's yorkers are in the distant past. Ay caramba! The SAffers are dominating the Powerplay. Nice. Writers everywhere are finding that point around which to peg their stories - the disparity in the results of the two Batting Powerplays for the two teams.
Deficit is only -19 now. What a big over.
What the Indians have going for them is that history tells us that the SAffers have one stutter left in them.
10:22am: ABD essays a very nice reverse sweep, almost reaching the third man fence on the full. I am not quite sure how he has hurt himself enough to be limping between deliveries, but his footwork does not seem to have been impeded. That's a nice injury to have. Deficit is dropping, and how! 50 runs in 38 balls.
10:25am: Ah! Is this the start of the stutter? ABD bends low, connects powerfully with a sweep shot and finds Virat Kohli who takes a sart catch, and then spoils it somewhat by using words his parents did not definitely teach him to tell ABD to leave the field.
52 runs in the Powerplay for the loss of 1 wicket. But that was a big wicket.
Deficit -18 in 54 balls. Yuvraj, India's leading spinner in this World Cup, comes on to bowl.
10:22am: ABD essays a very nice reverse sweep, almost reaching the third man fence on the full. I am not quite sure how he has hurt himself enough to be limping between deliveries, but his footwork does not seem to have been impeded. That's a nice injury to have. Deficit is dropping, and how! 50 runs in 38 balls.
10:25am: Ah! Is this the start of the stutter? ABD bends low, connects powerfully with a sweep shot and finds Virat Kohli who takes a sart catch, and then spoils it somewhat by using words his parents did not definitely teach him to tell ABD to leave the field.
52 runs in the Powerplay for the loss of 1 wicket. But that was a big wicket.
Deficit -18 in 54 balls. Yuvraj, India's leading spinner in this World Cup, comes on to bowl.
10:31am: du Plesis comes in, sees out a couple of bals, decides enough is enough and dumps Yuvraj beyond the fence for a pressure-lifting six. Right on cue, Shastri "gets the feeling that this match is going down to the wire."
10:33am: Masada stumps Duminy off Harbhajan Singh but this is not one that he will show in his Hall of Fame video. A wide down the leg-side is fumbled not once, not twice, but thrice by Dhoni before he manages to take the bails off. JPD had wandered so far down the wicket that he was about 5 steps down the wicket before he turned around.
Yup, the stutter has officially started.
Deficit -15, 42 balls to go.
I get the feeling that Shastri is going to use the "dot balls are like gold dust" line pretty soon.
10:42am: Gautam Gambhir overruns a catch, slips in trying to plant his foot, misses the ball and gives up a four. van Wyk is away! No worries, though. Two balls later, Munaf Patel nails van Wyk in front of the stumps while attempting a reverse sweep, and the 6th wicket is down.
Deficit is -14, 36 balls to go. 4 wickets in hand.
Suresh Raina is now firmly prowling in the field. I am guessing Ashish Nehra's day is done. Bat for a ball or two, give catching practice, bowl a few overs, stand around in the middle of the pitch for a while, run around in the field for a few more minutes, and then cool your heels. Get paid more than the pure sucker who runs around in your place. Nice work, if you can convince someone to pay you hundreds of thousands for it.
Deficit -16, 30 balls to go.
10:50am: Third man is fine, long-on and long-off in place, so the expectation is that the bal will be fuller and straighter. Everyone got the memo except the bowler, Munaf. Short, wide, four. Easy as that. What should be singles are converted to twos in the outfield, one to Bhajji and one to ZAK. 10 runs in that over.
Deficit -12, 24 balls to go.
Ashish Nehra sighting! Hmmm....so who's off the field then? The guessing game continues...I say it is Sehwag. Very smart rolling substitution employed by the Indians. That way no single player gets pointed to as the culprit. How long before the rest of the teams catch on (or does every team do the same thing?).
5 runs in the over.
Deficit -13, 18 balls to go.
10:59am: The lost art of the yorker. Munaf Patel dishes out some length bowling with no change in pace. Johan Botha loves it, slog-driving it to deep midwicket. Virat Kohli tries to mop up Munaf's mess with a valiant effort but the ball gently rolls into the boundary.
11:00am: One more length ball and Botha says, "Take that!". Well, not literally, but it felt like that. The ball flew about 10 rows behind long-off. The SAffers can't lose from here, can they?!
11:02am: Well, they might not lose, but they wont go without making this game closer. Needing just 18 runs in 14 balls, Botha goes for glory. And finds it. Only glory is named Suresh Raina who runs in from long-off, does not take his eyes off the ball, and then pouches it Why, Botha, why?
Deficit -5, 12 balls to go, 3 wickets left.
All I have to say is this. Don't take another wicket. Morne Morkel can hit sixes very easily. Don't let it get to him.
11:08am: ZAK bowls full. The batsmen take four squirty singles, and gets beaten by two of them. Shastri's prescience is remarkable. It HAS come down to the wire.
-7 deficit, 6 balls to go. So, in other words: 13 runs to win, 6 balls to go.
Masada decides to go with Ashish Nehra. Last year he was Masada's death-over specialist. Where is he today? We'll find out in 6 balls.
Ball 1: Inside-edged for four! 9 runs in 5 balls. No one to be blamed for that. Both the batsman and the bowlers need to stay calm. The calmest man on the ground is behind the stumps.
Ball 2: Nope! Peterson enjoys the pace and he swings it Wasim Akram/Mitchell Johnson style over midwicket. It was a length delivery, with no change in pace or anything. Easy as that.
Stay smart, South Africa. No hero shots.
Ball 3: Finally a yorker, dug out to fine-leg and they run a brace to tie the score.
Ball 4: We don't need 6 balls to find out whether Nehra will bowl any more overs at the end. 4 are enough. Peterson finds a gap in the cover region and South Africa do what India could not - reach a total of 300. They even had two balls to spare.
Good win for South Africa. It will help them ease the chokers tag a little bit. They tried a lot to give it away in the middle and if Peterson's first ball of the last over had inner-edged into the stumps, something else would have been written. But the SAffers bowled well in the last 10 overs and batted well enough all the way through to deserve this.
By the way, Masada. Here are the analyses for your 2nd and third fast bowlers:
Munaf Patel: 10-0-65-2
Ashish Nehra: 8.4-0-65-0
The two part-time spinners combined: 12-0-67-0. Yes, yes, yes, the 3 seamers idea needs to be rested now. Surely, R. Ashwin deserves to be in there instead of Ashish Nehra.
Okay, that was fun. The most important lesson learned from today? Sachin, do not score any more centuries in this World Cup. When you do, the opposition thinks batting is really easy and they chase down your team's totals.
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