South Africa pulled off a stunning three-wicket victory in Nagpur yesterday that all but secured them a quarter-final place and delivered a severe dent to the belief of India that they can win the World Cup on their own soil.
It was India’s first defeat of the tournament and will be all the more painful because they seemed to have the game in the bag a number of times.
They looked to be motoring to a total of 350 after Sachin Tendulkar had reached a hundred — his 48th in ODIs and 99th in all international cricket — off 92 balls, but they collapsed to be all out for 296.
Then, for most of the South Africa innings, India held the upper hand and when the last two overs began South Africa were seven down with 17 still needed. Zaheer Khan bowled a brilliant 49th over that yielded just four singles.
Step forward Robin Peterson, a member of South Africa’s much-maligned lower middle order, which had failed to produce the goods against England.
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Rather than give the ball to Harbhajan Singh, Mahendra Dhoni opted for Ashish Nehra. After Peterson had luckily edged a boundary off the first ball, he dispatched an innocuous second delivery high over wide mid-on. He and Francois du Plessis then scampered two before Peterson creamed the winning runs through the covers.
The finish raised fresh questions over India’s ability to deal with tight finishes after they let England take 29 off the last two overs to tie. India fielded better than in the England game — Dhoni led the way with a fine catch, stumping and run-out.
South Africa appeared to have paid for a slow start as their openers were restricted to 43 off 10 overs. Half-centuries from Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers — who struck a sparkling 52 from 39 balls despite summoning a runner — kept them in the hunt but India kept taking a wicket when they most needed one.
When Amla was second out in the 28th over, to a fine catch from Dhoni off a ball that bounced sharply from Harbhajan, the asking rate was about 7.5 runs an over. De Villiers and JP Duminy got them back on track as the batting power-play yielded 52 runs, but then De Villiers holed out in the deep.
India’s innings was a bizarre affair, dominated to an extraordinary extent by batsmen at the start and bowlers at the end.
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Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag gave the innings another explosive start, flaying 87 off the first 10 overs, the best start of the tournament in the mandatory power-play.
Sehwag, given a let-off on four when he edged between a static keeper and first slip, set off at his customary gallop, hitting the first ball of the innings for four for the fifth time in a row at this World Cup, and by the time the 50 came up he had contributed 37 to Tendulkar’s eight.
But once Tendulkar got a fair share of the strike he was soon motoring to a 33-ball half-century and relishing a renewal of his duel with Dale Steyn, whom he hooked imperiously into the stands.
They had posted 142 in 18 overs when Sehwag, stepping back to cut, chopped a ball from Du Plessis into leg stump. Gautam Gambhir offered South Africa little let-up as he helped Tendulkar put on 125 in 22 overs. By the time Tendulkar’s century came up, India were 241 for one.
But then came a familiar banana skin in the shape of the batting power-play, which led to India losing four wickets for 30 runs. Tendulkar sliced a catch off Morne Morkel, Gambhir was outfoxed by a Steyn slower ball and Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh followed playing expansively.
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What was surprising was that the lunacy continued until the end, as India’s lower order slogged indiscriminately and left Dhoni high and dry. The collapse — which amounted to nine wickets falling for 29 in 55 balls — was a tribute to South Africa’s perseverance and the speed and accuracy of Steyn, who finished with five for 50.