India lose 9 wickets for 29 runs : South Africa won 2 balls left.Tag
World-cup-2011
How to lose 9 wickets for 29 runs? well, call for batting powerplay and bat like a spoiled millionaire against a "Steyn" gun. India, sitting pretty at 267 for 1 wkt at the 40th over mark thanks to rocket start by Virendra Sehwag and 48th ODI century from Sachin Tendulkar, came crashing down from a position where total of 400 looked possibility to be bowled out for 296 and ended up losing their first match of this world cup 2011..Electing to bat first, Indian openers broke all sorts of records as they raised 84 runs from first 10 overs and hundred was raised only in 11.4 overs, the fastest in this tournament by any country. Then, Sachin Tendulkar batted out middle overs artistically, adding 125 runs with Gautam Gambhir but as soon as he reached his 99th international ton, batting powerplay was called for which changed batsmen's attitute to counter attack even against the good balls and wickets started to trumble, one straight after another. Dale Steyn found some reverse swing with the older ball and he concentrated wicket to wicket, eating up 5 batsmen in his final spell, limiting Indian innings dramatically. South Africans, going into the break with momentum, began their chase cautiously, knowning dew and other factors will keep them into the game if wickets are intact. Hashim Amla and then Jacques Kallis batted like rock while AB de Villiers came in to give Proteas innings much needed acceleration although still the difference between balls remaining and runs required was hovering around 40. Now, it was time for same batting powerplay which had let home team down but visitors didn't make the same mistake of being over aggressive. instead, they concentrated on finding gaps and 41 runs came pretty easily. Zaheer Khan bowled his final overs smartly but Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel failed to rise to occassion and South Africans posted a memorable/heartbreaking victory, keeping their record of never losing to India in a world cup. Facts : Jacques Kallis completed 1000 runs in world cup while Sachin Tendulkar raised his 2000th run against South Africa in one day internationals. Zaheer Khan dismissed Graeme Smith for the 13th time = 6 in test, 6 in ODI & 1 in T20. The scorecard :-
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