South Africa v India | Final ODI | Centurion | 23/01/2011

[Sir john]

this match will decide the whole tour result for team india.

Just like the Test series was decided on the final day of final Test, so too, the ODI series looks set to go down to the wire, with the score-line reading a tantalizing 2-2 for India and South Africa. South Africa have outplayed India in both their victories, while both India's wins have been in close matches that saw them emerge triumphant as much due to greater mental fortitude as cricketing skills. To register a maiden ODI series triumph in South Africa though, India will have to pull up their collective batting socks, since batting has been the main worry for the visitors, with the bowlers acquitting themselves well on the whole. Virat Kohli has been the only bright spot in the series for India in an otherwise out-of-form batting line-up, which has been hit hard by injuries to key players like Sachin Tendulkar and opening duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. The rest of the batting has come a cropper in the series so far with skipper Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina all failing to consolidate on the starts they have got. What will be worrying Dhoni the most is the opening slot. Rohit Sharma's woeful run continues at the top while Parthiv Patel, who replaced an out-of-touch Murali Vijay in the last match, failed to make any impact. Dhoni himself conceded that the middle-order need to fire after the visitors failed to secure a historic series-win in the fourth ODI. "It's (Kohli's batting) a big positive for us. It's good for us at number three. He has carried through the innings but the other batsmen also need to chip in. The middle-order has not clicked," Dhoni said. "It (final match) will be interesting. The team that handles pressure better will win," he added. India's bowling was a tad wayward in the fourth ODI, but for a large part of the South African innings it was the Indians that had the upperhand, but allowed it to slip. However, given that the bowlers have generally been consistent, and were good for more than half of the 4th ODI too, Dhoni and coach Kirsten are likely to work more towards addressing the batting issues. With World Cup around the corner, India will not only want to win the series in South Africa but also see the youngsters, who have done well in the recent past, show some character on the pacy South Africa pitches before the game's show-piece event, which starts next month. Winning the series is not going to be easy for the visitors though, with South Africa showing that they have the stomach for a fight with their handsome win in the fourth match. Given that they had lost the previous two matches by close margins, it was a commendable effort by South Africa to pick themselves up, shake themselves off and put in the kind of performance they did. That win will also mean South Africa go into the final match high on confidence. The Proteas may be missing the required balance in the side in the absence of veteran all-rounder Jacques Kallis, but someone or the other has chipped in with runs for the home team when they needed most. Among the batsmen, the most reliable has been JP Duminy, who has stolen a march over the more illustrious names in the line-up, leaving behind the likes of Amla, Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers. The left-handed Duminy scored fifties in consecutive matches to rescue the South African innings in both the third and fourth ODIs. Duminy's crucial unbeaten 71 in the fourth ODI turned out to be a match-winning effort, and also saw him share two vital partnerships - both above 50 runs - that bailed South Africa to safety after wickets had fallen in a hurry. The South African bowling, meanwhile, has been the talking point of the series with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tostsobe igniting fire upfront while Botha has been stemming the run flow in the middle overs. The Test series was drawn and India won the lone T20 International. In that sense, this match is the decider not just for the ODI series, but for the tour as a whole. If South Africa win, they will hold the bragging rights, since a win in a 5-match ODI series would carry greater weight than a win in the lone T20. If India win, they would have gone back from South Africa having drawn the Tests and won the limited-overs contests. In short, both teams have everything to play for.
Teams:
South Africa (From): Graeme Smith(c), Hashim Amla, Morne van Wyk, AB de Villiers(w), Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Wayne Parnell, Colin Ingram, Imran Tahir
India (From): Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Murali Vijay, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, S Sreesanth

 

[gsivak]

Good Luck to the Indian team...hope they win this match and the series.

 

[Animal]

Sometimes I don't get Dhoni. He drops his third seamer and then chooses to bowl first in what are clearly helpful conditions for seamers.

 

[Ryankhan]

I really wish SA wins this one. Hope amla gets a 100 and they make 260+ runs. AMLA already on a role

 

[ali_ed2006]

Smith gone, 16-1

 

[Animal]

Munaf better get his radar right. As it is we are a seamer short.

 

[cric_fan82]

Sometimes I don't get Dhoni. He drops his third seamer and then chooses to bowl first in what are clearly helpful conditions for seamers.

it baffles me also! but looking at nehra's form! it doesnt come as a surprise

 

[Sir john]

india will win.

 

[Animal]

And now Dhoni brings on Chawla inside 10 overs! What's going on I say?!

 

[Sir john]

saaf 40/1 after 8 overs.

 

[Sir john]

chawla playing

 

[Sir john]

saaf 45/1 after 9 overs.

 

[Animal]

abey aaj Munfi McGrath ko kya ho gaya hai?

 

[Rizz Khan]

112/1 After 22 Overs.

 

[Sir john]

saaf batting well

 

[Sir john]

end of wayk

yuvi

 

[Sir john]

ABD is the new batsman

 

[Sir john]

chawla continue

 

[Sir john]

saaf 122/2 after 24 overs.

 

[cric_fan82]

good start by the saffers! and what a lovely catch by yuvi to get rid of wan vyk

 

[cric_fan82]

de villiers has been damn lucky!!! another lucky escape for him

 

[Sir john]

amla is key here for saaf now.

 

[cric_fan82]

what fielding by raina! two in a row!

 

[Sir john]

chawla not looking good.

 

[cric_fan82]

de villiers escapes again!!!

 

[cric_fan82]

chawla not looking good.

that's his first match in 2 years! i would give him a little more time

 

[cric_fan82]

yuvraj foxes de villiers!!!!

 

[Sir john]

saaf 129/2 after 26

 

[Sir john]

that's his first match in 2 years! i would give him a little more time

we r running of out of time.

 

[Sir john]

ABD

 

[cric_fan82]

that was out!!!! plumb lbw not given against duminy!

 

[Animal]

UV is fast becoming our Afridi, a good bowling all rounder who plays a blinder once in a blue moon!

 

[Sir john]

saaf 132/3 after 27 overs.

 

[pun500]

oh crap that would have been 4 down and their inform batter too

 

[Sir john]

fifty

 

[Sir john]

Crr 4.86

 

[cric_fan82]

UV is fast becoming our Afridi, a good bowling all rounder who plays a blinder once in a blue moon!

we dont want an afridi type in our team! if he is selected as batsman, he should bat!

 

[Sir john]

saaf 142/3 after 29

 

[Animal]

we dont want an afridi type in our team! if he is selected as batsman, he should bat!

Say what you will about Afridi, when he comes good it's a treat. But then again, we already have Pathan and Bhajji who are both afridesque on their day.

 

[Sir john]

bhaaji need to take some wickets.

 

[Sir john]

150 up for saaf

 

[Sir john]

RSA 156/3 (31.0 Ovs)

 

[pun500]

ashwin u idiot n yuvi the bigger idiot for going off the field

 

[cric_fan82]

Say what you will about Afridi, when he comes good it's a treat. But then again, we already have Pathan and Bhajji who are both afridesque on their day.

when he comes good??? that is THE big question! once in 20 matches?? well it is more!
bhajji is a bowler first, is in the team as a bowler ( in additiion he bats, batting is a plus here and at the moment he is a far better batsman then afridi )

pathan is in the team as a batting allrounder, if he is gonna suck at batting and with a bowling avg of 35+, it is tata bye bye for him!

Afridi was a batsmen predominantly! well turned out that pakistan doesnt have any decent spinners and the would take a spinner who avergaes 35+ and would play a good innings every 20th match! ( sorry but india has got more resources then this )

 

[cric_fan82]

185/3

 

[IAJ]

ashwin u idiot n yuvi the bigger idiot for going off the field

Straight forward catch dropped and now Amla is slowly approaching his century.

 

[cric_fan82]

Amla has been extremely lucky!

 

[IAJ]

Amla has been extremely lucky!

And good! You need luck as well. Apart from that dropped catch and an outside edge he has been solid!

 

[Romali_rotti]

Sir John


You are a god-damn curse last few games you start a thread 10 hours early and India ends up getting their as* handed to them.... By the way congrats to SA for winning the ODI series, WELL PLAYED..

 

[IAJ]

Amla's century no. 7! what a player!

 

[cric_fan82]

And good! You need luck as well. Apart from that dropped catch and an outside edge he has been solid!

absolutely and fortune favours the brave! 100 up!

 

[cricket_fever]

another century from the legend!

 

[IAJ]

This idiot kepler wessels is really annoying. He keeps saying that Amla's job is to bat through the innings! What the hell has the rest of saffers done? Smith has struggled, AB has done nothing, why isn't he critisizing them?

He is putting to much preassure on Amla, like Amla has to score centuries after centuries to retain his place in the team.

 

[Torpedo]

Rain stopped play

 

[cric_fan82]

^^ most of the saffer commentators have been really annoying!

 

[Sir john]

rain

 

[Sir john]

Sir John


You are a god-damn curse last few games you start a thread 10 hours early and India ends up getting their as* handed to them.... By the way congrats to SA for winning the ODI series, WELL PLAYED..

i started it before 4 hours.

 

[pun500]

rain will help us ...i fancy a chase of 30 overs

 

[Energy]

Was looking forward to the batting powerplay.

I hope they do get to play it atleast.

 

[pakistandiehardfan]

and yet again, India getting tonked by a better team.

 

[Rana]

Rain will suit india.

 

[Passion4Pakistan]

Rain will suit india.

Really??? But How??

 

[Rizz Khan]

South Africa Is Gonna Win This

 

[Rana]

Really??? But How??

The dwl method will give a smaller revised total.

 

[Rizz Khan]

Rain has stopped. Play will resume at 14.00, in 10 minutes from now, and will be reduced to 46-overs-a-side.

 

[Strike!]

46 overs a side, That means South africa will immediately start blasting away as soon as the match resumes.

 

[haroonrasheed320]

SA has 4 overs to score, they are gonna come out all guns blazing

 

[Sir john]

46 over per side

 

[Rizz Khan]

46 over per side

280 My Target !

 

[Rizz Khan]

Duminy!

 

[JustAnotherFan]

Faf can open his houlders ... now is the time again.

 

[Romali_rotti]

Watching these hapless Indian bowlers, they are going to get killed during the WC on Indian wickets, Batting is going to have to win it for India should we win it..

 

[Romali_rotti]

Faf can open his houlders ... now is the time again.

Havent seen you in ages, dude U are alive GOOD TO SEE...

 

[Rizz Khan]

Du Plessis

 

[Rizz Khan]

Du Plessis

 

[Rizz Khan]

2 To Botha

 

[Rizz Khan]

Botha

 

[Rizz Khan]

1 To Amla.

 

[Rizz Khan]

Robin Peterson

 

[Rizz Khan]

Robin Peterson