3rd ODI: India beat SA in a cliffhanger

Cape Town: A burst of powerful hitting by Yusuf Pathan spurred India to a thrilling two-wicket win in the third one-day international against South Africa at Newlands on Tuesday.

Chasing a target of 221, India were struggling at 93 for five before Pathan launched a savage assault against South African off-spinners Johan Botha and JP Duminy.

On a pitch where most batsmen found it difficult to play positive strokes, Pathan, making his first appearance in the series, struck 59 off 50 balls as India took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Pathan and Suresh Raina (37) put on 75 for the sixth wicket but both were out in quick succession to set up a tense finish.

Fast bowler Morne Morkel took three for 26 and fellow paceman Dale Steyn claimed two for 31 but could not stop India from getting home with ten balls to spare. Harbhajan Singh made a crucial 23 not out, including two sixes.

The match changed dramatically in the 28th over of the Indian innings when Pathan, on six, edged Botha for a four between wicketkeeper AB de Villiers and captain Graeme Smith at slip.

Pathan swept the next delivery and Lonwabo Tsotsobe, running in from the boundary to try to take a catch, misjudged the ball and it went for another four.

In the next over from Duminy, Pathan again swept in the air and Morkel also misjudged the ball in contemplating a catch and another boundary was the result.

Then Pathan struck three sixes off four balls from Botha, all sailing over a fielder at deep mid-wicket.

On an untypical Newlands pitch, South Africa struggled to 220 all out with newcomer Francois 'Faf' du Plessis and JP Duminy putting on 110 as they rescued a floundering innings.

Du Plessis made 60 and Duminy 52 on a pitch of inconsistent pace and bounce.

The pair came together with their side in trouble at 90 for four in the 24th over.

They put on 110 off 129 balls before Du Plessis slipped as he went down the wicket to attack Munaf Patel and sliced a catch to cover.

Du Plessis, 26, a former schoolboy teammate of De Villiers, who has been signed to play for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, made his runs off 78 balls.

He showed composure at the crease and the only sign of nerves came when he needed treatment for cramps in his forearm.

Du Plessis was out in the first over of the batting powerplay, which was taken in the 45th over, and as in the second international in Johannesburg, the lifting of fielding restrictions heralded a flurry of wickets.

Duminy was bowled in the next over and the innings folded rapidly, with the last six wickets falling for 20 runs.

Zaheer Khan, with three for 43, and Singh led a superb Indian bowling performance, which was backed up by good fielding.

Khan repeatedly beat South African captain Graeme Smith with swing and movement off the pitch, although Smith survived to make a laboured 43 off 79 balls before falling to Harbhajan's off-spin.

Khan also took a spectacular diving catch in the outfield to dismiss De Villiers.

Harbhajan mesmerised the batsmen, taking two for 23 in nine overs, helped by two diving slip catches by Virat Kohli.

Dhoni sees finisher's role for Yusuf Pathan

Cape Town: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni lauded Yusuf Pathan for his blistering innings and said with more experience the dashing all-rounder can become a good match-finishing batsman for the country.

Pathan produced a terrific 50-ball 59 run innings in the third ODI to help India chase South Africa's total of 220 with 10 balls to spare after being precariously placed at 93 for five at one stage.

"He (Pathan) played his natural game. I want him to continue playing the kind of cricket he plays. As he gets more experience he will turn into a match-finishing batsman," Dhoni said.

"It was good effort from the batsmen. The lower middle-order also played well. But Pathan was superb," Dhoni said.

Dhoni also praised his pace bowlers for their superb show during the death overs of the South African innings.

"The best thing today was our powerplay and death bowling," the Indian skipper said.

Man-of-the-match Pathan said he was just playing his natural game and it put pressure on the South African bowlers.

"It's a good win for us. I was just looking to hit the balls which were in my areas. If you let the bowler know you can play the shots, you will play the shots and he will stay under pressure," Yusuf said.

"I went in thinking that I will play my shots but won't be in any hurry to play those shots. I will wait for the balls in my area and I was successful in doing that."

Pathan, who hit six fours and three sixes, said it was a bouncy pitch but he played his shots to put the opponent on to the back foot.

"There was bounce in the pitch. But I knew if I played a few shots, things would get easier. If you hit the bowlers, the opposition gets on to the back foot. A lot of things run through the captain's mind, and you benefit from that," he added.

The Baroda batsman said with this win, South Africa will be under pressure to bounce back into the five-match One-day series.

"Our team is full of confidence right now," Pathan said.

"South Africa will obviously be under pressure because they have lost two matches, and we have done better in pressure situation. We made a comeback in the previous game and here too. So the pressure will be on them."

PTI

Proteas thump India by 135 runs in Durban ODI

Durban: A clinical performance from South Africa saw the home team decimate Team India by a whooping margin of 135 runs under lights to take 1-0 lead in the five-match series here at the Kingsmead stadium.

Except for Virat Kohli, who played a promising knock of 54, and Suresh Raina (32), who fought till end with some exciting strokes, all the Indian batsmen fell like a pack of cards against lethal swing and bounce from South African speed-merchants and folded up for 154 runs in 35.4 overs to embrace one of the worst ODI defeats in recent times.

Apart from one freaky run-out, the pace quartet of Steyn, Tsotsobe, Morkel and Parnell accounted for all the damage with Lonwabo Tsotsobe leading the match honours and winning well deserved ‘Man of the Match award’ with superb bowling figures of 4 wickets for 31 runs.

Set up a stiff target of 289 runs to chase, India made a horrific start to their innings as South African bowlers rattled Indian top-order early to sense an early upset in the Indian camp.

India lost both openers- Murali Vijay and Sachin Tendulkar- in quick succession as the duo was not able to negate South African pace attack and fell down cheaply against quality swing and bounce from South African speedsters.

Vijay was first to depart during Indian chase as the batsman was trapped plumb in front of wickets in the first over off a fiery Dale Steyn delivery which kept low and looked like crashing into middle stump.

Tsotsobe then hurled short-pitch stuffs to Tendulkar, bowling an awkward angle and was finally rewarded for his hard-work as Tendulkar top-edged a climbing delivery towards fine-leg where Steyn took a well-judged catch to end Tendulkar’s innings.

With two wickets down for just 13 runs, youngsters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli tried to rebuild Indian innings but with umpire Simon Taufel making a judgment error and ruling Rohit out off an away moving delivery from Morne Morkel, India slid more deep with 41/3 on board. Delighted with wicket ‘gift’, Morne then removed Yuvraj Singh in the same over as the left-hander edged the ball to second slip after facing just four balls.

After Yuvraj’s dismissal, Kohli and skipper MS Dhoni added valuable 52 runs for the fifth wicket and tried hard to steer India from difficulty but just when the duo started to play big shots, hard luck robbed India as a straight drive from Kohli hit bowlers’ palm and disturbed non-striker stumps where Dhoni was caught short of his crease.

Dhoni’s departure brought Suresh Raina on the crease and with only last recognized batting pair in the middle and mountain like target to chase, curtains were drawn on Indian victory much before than anticipated.

Kohli and Raina added 33 runs for the sixth wicket but with players taking the batting powerplay in 29th over, Kohli perished in a desperate attempt to shoot up the scoring rate.

With no resistance from lower-order, India was all-out for 154 runs in just under 160 minutes of play.

Earlier, riding on the half-centuries from AB De Villiers, JP Duminy and Hashim Amla, South Africa made 289/9 and set India a stiff target of 290 runs to chase under bowling-friendly conditions.

At a time when India looked like gaining upper-hand by taking top three South African wickets for 82 runs in the 14th over, Duminy and De Villiers came together in dodgy circumstances and showed a lot of enterprise as they put on a critical 131-run stand for the fourth wicket which set the foundation of a competitive first inning score by home team.

Indian speedster Ashish Nehra though accounted for the first South African dismissal but could not repeat his heroics of 2003 at this ground and proved to be the most expensive bowler, leaking 61 runs in six overs.

Winning the toss and choosing to bat, South Africa made a quick start with openers Graeme Smith and Amla stroking boundaries and looting 14 runs in second over of the match but Nehra came back strong as he dismissed Smith to put an instant break on initial aggression shown by Proteas.

Smith (11) scored two boundaries but looked bit uncomfortable during his stay and was finally done in by short of length ball, as he came down the track and attempted an ugly shot to give an easy catch to Rohit Sharma at slip who didn’t made any mistake in pouching the top-edge.

Unperturbed by Graeme Smith’s dismissal early, Amla played in slambang style and looked like making amends for his failure in only T20, as he stroked eight powerful boundaries in just 36 balls to provide early impetus to South African innings.

Amla (50) looked in superb touch and played strokes in all parts of the ground but in a bid to dictate terms, he lost his cool and fell immediately after scoring his 11th ODI fifty.

Munaf Patel, who came in as first change after Nehra went for plenty of runs, made immediate impact as he first ended Colin Ingram’s miserable stay on the crease and then trapped big fish Amla to put India in commanding position early in the match.

Ingram, who came in to bat after Smith’s dismissal, wasted 23 balls for his individual score of 5 runs and got out after he tried to break the shackles and paid the price for a mistimed hit.

Munaf then dismissed dangerous Amla as he forced the batsman to play a swat-loft over mid-on where Harbhajan ran back and took a difficult catch over his shoulder to bring Amla’s sparkling knock to an end.

With three top-order wickets down, India looked like gaining an upper-hand but a counter-attacking knock from both De Villiers (76) and then Duminy (73) foiled Indian plans to create pressure.

Seeing both batsmen in good form, South Africa took their batting powerplay early in 27th over and made full use of the field restrictions as the duo added 45 runs in five overs without loss of a wicket as the fourth-wicket partnership allowed South Africa`s thin lower middle order to play it safe and just carry on the momentum to run up a strong score.

With all main bowlers going for plenty of runs, Dhoni turned-up to his part-time options and the bold move paid off as Rohit Sharma foxed De Villiers with a slower delivery, as the batsman set himself up for the pull but played straight to Harbhajan at deep midwicket.

Gaining confidence with Rohit’s success, Dhoni asked Suresh Raina to roll over his arm and Raina too didn’t disappointed his captain as he clean bowled David Miller to restrict South African progress.

Rohit then picked up crucial wicket of Duminy as India did well to contain South Africa under 300 runs in late part of their innings.

Zaheer Khan delivered a near perfect 50th over, as he took two wickets for five runs, as South African innings finished for 289/9 in the allotted 50 overs.

Ind-SA: SA finish with 289/9 in 1st ODI

Durban: Part-timers Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina helped India claw their way back in the first ODI against South Africa as the hosts once threatened to go well past 300 but eventually finished with 289 at the Kingsmead Durban.

Earlier, South African captain Smith won the toss and elected to bat.

The Proteas left out Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Robin Peterson while Piyush Chawla, Ravichandran Ashwin and S Sreesanth are the ones to miss out for the Indians.

India will to want to rectify their poor record against the Proteas when it comes to playing in South Africa, having won 3 and lost 16.

India were thumped 4-0 in the one day series on their last tour of South Africa in 2006-07.

Teams:

India: S Tendulkar, M Vijay, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, R Sharma, S Raina, MS Dhoni (capt), M Patel, Harbhajan Singh, A Nehra, Z Khan

South Africa: G Smith (capt), H Amla, C Ingram, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, D Miller, J Botha, W Parnell, L Tsotsobe, M Morkel, D Steyn

2nd Test: India beat SA to level series 1-1

Durban: An inspired India made amends for the drubbing at Centurion with a sensational 87-run victory against South Africa in the low-scoring second cricket Test to level the three-match series 1-1 here on Wednesday.

After setting a target of 303, the Indian bowlers put up a disciplined show to dismiss the hosts for 215 in 72.3 overs about an hour after the lunch break to record only their second Test triumph on South African soil.

It turned out to be an extraordinary Test with fortune fluctuating from one team to the other but the Indians eventually tilted the balance in their favour on a bouncy Kingsmead track which saw 40 wickets fall in three and half days.

The Indians, who had lost the first Test at Centurion by an innings and 25 runs, showed great character and resilience to demolish the Proteas in their own den and in conditions tailor-made to suit the home team.

The Indians players jumped in joy and hugged each other after last man Lonwabo Tsotsobe was run out to bring about the moment of glory while coach Gary Kirsten and the other support staff stood up at the dressing room to applaud the players.

S Sreesanth (3/45), Zaheer Khan (3/53) and Harbhajan Singh (2/70) were the pick of the bowlers for India while Ashwell Prince was the top scorer for the South Africans with an unbeaten 39.

It was India's second Test triumph in South Africa. The 123-run victory in the first Test at Johannesburg in 2006 was their first Test victory on South African soil.

The two teams will now travel to Cape Town for the third and final Test starting on Sunday.

Both teams had an equal chance of winning the match when play began this morning with South Africa needing 192 runs and India needing to scalp the seven remaining wickets.

With plenty of time at hand, South African batsmen adopted a cautious approach in the morning and were content in playing the waiting game against some disciplined Indian bowling.

Resuming their chase at the overnight score of 111 for three, both de Villiers and Jacques Kallis found the going tough against the Indian attack and scored in ones and twos before a ripper from Sreesanth broke the dangerous-looking 41-run fourth-wicket stand.

The Kerela speedster came up with a blinder of a delivery that bounced sharply on to Kallis from just short of length and the big man had no other option but to fend at it, only to glove it to Virender Sehwag at gully.

Kallis made 17 off 52 deliveries and hit two boundaries in the process.

It seemed Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni came out with a perfect plan as he started the day's proceeding with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who bowled in tandem alongside Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan.

Dhoni's tactic bore fruit as Harbhajan inflicted the second big blow of the morning to South Africa by dismissing another dangerman De Villiers (33) lbw even though TV replays showed the South African was unlucky.

Bowling from round the wicket, Harbhajan tossed one up on off and middle and got it to bite and straighten which struck de Villiers around the knee in front of the stumps and umpire Asad Rauf had no hestiation in raising the finger but replays later showed the ball was going above the stumps.

Soon after de Velliers wicket, another dubious lbw decision ruined South Africa's morning when Zaheer Khan dismissed Mark Boucher in the 43rd over.

Zaheer too registered his name in the wicket list when he struck Boucher on the pads with a delivery that seemed to be angling away from the off-stump but umpire Steve Davis thought otherwise and adjudged the Protea wicket-keeper lbw much to the dismay of the home fans.

Zaheer then took India closer towards victory dismissing Dale Steyn (10) caught by Cheteshwar Pujara at third slip after the right-hander went for a flashing drive only to get an outside edge.

But a resolute Prince remained a thorn in the flesh for the Indians as he joined hands with Harris to lead South Africa's fightback and frustrated the visitors with their eighth-wicket partnership.

Zaheer broke the 27-run partnership immediately after the lunch break by bowling Harris with a gem of a delivery which moved in to clip the bails.

Morne Morkel, who joined the action after Harris' dismissal, went for his strokes to ease the pressure and the strategy seemed to work as South Africa crossed the 200 mark to give some anxious moments to the Indians.

But Ishant came to his team's rescue by evicting Morkel (20) and bring India within sniffing distance of victory.

Last man Lonwabo Tsotsobe did not survive long as he was run out, thanks to some smart fielding by Cheteswar Pujara at short leg.

Finger injury rules Graeme Smith out of IPL

NEW DELHI: Their IPL campaign already in tatters with two consecutive defeats, Rajasthan Royals were on Tuesday dealt a body blow as their opener Graeme Smith has ruled himself out of the entire season-3 due to a finger injury.

Smith fractured his right middle finger while fielding in Monday's match against Delhi Daredevils.

"I have a double fracture in my right middle finger, so will be missing the IPL. I hurt it taking the catch off Sehwag on Monday night. wen (When) I landed, my finger got hooked in the ground," Smith wrote on his Twitter page.

The burly South African had suffered a finger during the Test series against India also in February and did not play the following one-day series.

The Rajasthan team is already without key performers in Shane Watson and Ravindra Jadeja.

While the Australian all-rounder is doing national duty in New Zealand, Jadeja is serving a one-year ban.

Explosive batsman Yusuf Pathan and Dimitri Mascarenhas also injured themselves in Monday's match.

The inaugural edition champions will next play against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

They lost their first match to Mumbai Indians on Saturday and second to Delhi Daredevils on Monday.