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Bowlers seal emphatic win for
South Africa
Monitoring Report
SOURAV Ganguly stood on the burning deck nearly four hours for a
fine 87 as India’s misadventure at Motera ended with ugly scars that
may take a while to heal. South Africa, a class apart from first
ball to last, swept to a thoroughly deserved innings-and-90-run
victory inside three days and cannot lose a series that was billed
as the contest for the No.2 ranking behind Australia.
Ganguly added 110 with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and 55 with VVS Laxman,
exhibiting all the determination and poise that had been
conspicuously absent in India’s abject first innings. But once Dale
Steyn, wicketless until then, returned to tempt him into a drive
from round the wicket, the match was only ever going to have one
outcome. Ganguly stood his ground, and replays suggested the noise
that alerted Tony Hill might have been bat striking ground, but the
South Africans were convinced that there had been a big deflection.
His dismissal completely changed the course of a final session that
had started encouragingly for the home side, with Ganguly playing
some delicate cuts off Paul Harris and a beautiful straight push off
Morne Morkel. With Dhoni in dogged and restrained mood, it was
Ganguly who worked the bowlers, until the decisive moment when
Graeme Smith tossed the ball Steyn’s way.
Dhoni reached his half-century from 122 balls soon after, but with
Smith calling on his big guns, the resistance was swiftly ended. It
was Makhaya Ntini who saw off Dhoni, pitching one perfectly in the
off-stump corridor to induce the expansive drive. Smith made no
mistake at slip.
Harris was swung for one huge six by Irfan Pathan, but otherwise
bottled up one end and was rewarded for his effort with the wicket
of Anil Kumble, bowled through the gap between bat and pad. That was
enough for Smith to call for the new ball, five overs late, and
Steyn soon struck, trapping Harbhajan Singh in front. The subsequent
flurry of strokes from Pathan and Sreesanth did little more than
delay the popping of the champagne corks.
In truth, India’s fate was sealed in a morning session where they
lost both Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. With rain falling
heavily the previous evening, Smith had declared on the overnight
total of 494 for 7. Needing 418 just to make South Africa bat again,
the Indian innings had the most bizarre start. Steyn strove for
express pace, and Sehwag responded with two stunning strokes, a
swivel-pull and a clip off the pads, both of which sailed over the
rope for sixes.
But after surviving an excellent leg-before shout from Ntini,
Sehwag’s luck ran out. The second time Ntini thudded one into the
pad, Hill raised the finger. Dravid, best equipped to deal with the
conditions, came in and got going with a lovely flick for four off
Ntini, but Wasim Jaffer was having a torrid time at the other end,
squared up by Ntini and then lucky to escape after a superb short
ball from Morkel had him popping one up into no-man’s land.
A beautiful cover drive soon after lifted the spirits somewhat, and
when Jacques Kallis replaced Ntini, Jaffer greeted him with an
emphatic pull for four. The partnership was worth 33 when Morkel
struck with a delivery that climbed steeply up at Dravid. He tried
to drop the ball to his feet, but couldn’t quite get on top of it,
and the edge was neatly caught by AB de Villiers at third slip.
Jaffer followed in similar fashion, caught on the crease and squared
up by a Kallis delivery that angled in, and it was left to Ganguly
and Laxman to try and salvage a modicum of pride. Laxman was in
splendid touch, playing some magnificent drives down the ground and
tucking the ball off his pads with time to spare. Soon after lunch,
though, Smith replaced Steyn with Morkel, and after Laxman had
caressed two fours, the breakthrough arrived.
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