India vs South Africa: Five moments which took the game away from hosts
It has been a similar story for India in recent times. Cruising at one stage and then a batting collapse that leads to losing the game from a winning position. Since the World Cup, India have played Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in ODIs. In both the series, India suffered batting collapse at some stage of the innings. Zimbabwe saw them collapsing at the top of the order while in Bangladesh, batting never peaked.
On Sunday, in Kanpur, a late collapse of middle-order resulted in a five-run defeat to South Africa in first ODI. Cruising at one stage in the chase of 304 runs with Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane batting, India managed to be 298/7 in the end from 269/3 after the 46th over.
Here is a look at what changed the course of the match in South Africa’s favour:
Ashwin blow: It’s difficult for a captain to change bowlers when only one bowler is in form. R Ashwin was MS Dhoni’s only breakthrough bowler but as fate would have it, he suffered a side strain. Before the injury, Ashwin was a threat for South Africa, but later India missed him dearly. As Dhoni would admit later, he missed the six overs Ashwin didn’t bowl of his quota. When Ashwin returned to bowl an over, South Africa’s scoring rate had jumped from 4.5 runs to 5.5 runs per over. In the end, Indian bowlers failed to contain AB and Behardien.
AB assault: The Green Park pitch was not an easy one to bat on but AB de Villiers showed how to pace an innings on such a two-paced surface. He was on 51 off 54 balls and in the next 20 balls he faced, De Villiers scored 53 runs. Ably supported by Farhaan Behardien, AB took the attack to India and South Africa managed 303/5 – a score which was always difficult to chase on this wicket.
Rahane falls, India falter: India were all set to chase down the target with Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, but a soft dismissal of the former in the 34th over shifted the momentum in South Africa’s favour. It was a dismissal against the run of play that surely put India on the backfoot. Rahane also seemed dejected after the shot he played to extra-cover. For South Africa, it was an opening and then they made inroads into the Indian batting line-up and always enjoyed the upper hand.
Tahir trumps Rohit: Even after Rahane’s dismissal, Rohit was scoring runs with ease. Tahir, in the 47th over, gave the ball some more flight and Rohit went for his shot. At the very end moment, he checked his shot and Tahir accepted an easy catch. That moment in the game gave South Africa two unsettled batsmen at the crease and India had to no time to recover from that. Suresh Raina was out on the last ball of the same over and South Africa, once again, knew they had the upper hand.
A beginning, an end: With 11 required off the last over and Dhoni at the crease, even a kid would have favoured India. But young Rabada had different thoughts. He cramped Dhoni for room by following him towards the leg-side and banged it short. Dhoni, in an awkward position to play the shot, only managed to lob it up in the air and Rabada completed an easy caught and bowled. On the very next ball, he did the same with Stuart Binny. The only difference being the catcher – Amla took an easy catch at square-leg. Not the dismissals but the confidence of Rabada won the game for South Africa. He was not awed by Dhoni’s tag of ‘best finisher in the world’. For Dhoni, it was the end of that tag and for Rabada it was a beginning which will see him bowl at the death for the Proteas.
