Port Elizabeth, Jan. 21: Stirring pre-match words from distraught skipper Graeme Smith paid off as South African finally batsmen answered to his call of ‘winning the key moments’.
An early onslaught by Hashim Amla (64 off 69 balls) took care of the start, while J.P. Duminy (71 off 72 balls) tented to the end, to help the side recover from a middle-order slump and post 265/7 in 50 overs in the fourth on-dayer of the series at St George’s Park here on Friday.
The total came on a slow and low track not unlike the one at Newlands for the third-one-dayer on Saturday which India had barely managed to win by two wickets. While the Proteas had thrown away a strong start at the end then, and managed just 220, two late partnerships — of 70 between Duminy and Johan Botha (44, 59b) for the seventh wicket and a Duminy-Robin Peterson one (31) for the eighth wicket worth 54 runs — carried the side to an eminently defendable total.
In the beginning, openers Smith (18) and Amla had added 57 runs, before a brilliant catch by Harbhajan Singh at mid-off had sent the South African captain back to the pavilion.
Chasing 266 to win and clinching the five-match series will be tough, something India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had admitted to when he lost the toss earlier in the day.
India looked to have come back in the match at the halfway-mark with the Proteas collapsing to 125/5. Yuvraj Singh’s (3/34) slow tweakers had removed Morne van Wyk (15) in the 20th over and then took out AB de Villiers (3) in the 22nd over.
In the 21st over, Amla had run himself out trying to go for a non-existent double. From 106/1, South Africa slipped to 118/5 in 22.5 overs, in danger of being bowled out for under 200.
It was all downhill for India from then on as Duminy scripted as stunning comeback. Dhoni allowed him easy singles against the spinners which ensured that the pressure eased off. Duminy and Botha ran hard and pushed the ball into the gaps. There were just four fours conceded by India in overs 25-35, but the batsmen still managed to score at five an over.
India’s bowlers too had a rare bad day with Zaheer Khan (0/55), Munaf Patel (0/49) and Harbhajan Singh (0/61) all going for runs.
Scorecard
South africa
H. Amla run out 64, G. Smith c Harbhajan b Nehra 18, M. van Wyk c Kohli b Yuvraj 15, AB de Villiers c Dhoni b Yuvraj 3, J.P. Duminy not out 71, F. du Plessis run out 1, J. Botha st Dhoni b Yuvraj 44, R. Peterson run out 31, D. Steyn not out 4.
Extras (b1, lb1, w10, nb2) 14
Total (in 50 overs) 265/7
FoW: 1-57, 2-106, 3-111, 4-115, 5-118, 6-188, 7-242
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 9-1-55-0, Munaf Patel 8-1-49-0, Nehra 6-0-27-1, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-61-0, Yuvraj Singh 8-0-34-3, Rohit Sharma 2-0-6-0, Raina 3-0-13-0, Yusuf Pathan 4-0-18-0.