Nagpur, March 12: Sachin Tendulkar brought up his sixth World Cup century but Dale Steyn’s five-wicket haul helped South Africa restrict India to a below par score of 296 in a Group B ICC World Cup game here at Jamtha, Nagpur. Tendulkar’s knock of 111 is his second of the 2011 ICC World Cup, the first having come against England earlier in the competition.
MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat first on a tantalising Jamtha wicket full of runs. Virender Sehwag lofted the first delivery of the day bowled by Dale Steyn over mid-on to start off proceedings in style. That set the tone for the innings with both Sehwag and Sachin dominating the South African bowling attack like never before.
Both batsmen pulled and drove with confidence as India raced away to a score of 101 in just 12 overs. Sehwag brought up his half-century in just 44 deliveries while Tendulkar did so in 33. With all his bowlers being carted to different corners of the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium ground, Graeme Smith turned to Faf du Plessis who got Sehwag to play the ball on to the stumps off just his fourth delivery. The opener made 73 and at this stage India were 142 for one in 17.4 overs.
The Tendulkar show continued nevertheless. Of particular delight were a hook shot off Dale Steyn that went for six over deep backward square leg. Equally stunning were a couple of fours off Morkel that Tendulkar hit with a powerful slap off the front foot while connecting with the ball at chest height.
Tendulkar brought up his century in the 36th over of the Indian innings in just 92 deliveries with the score at 236. The master was given good company by Gautam Gambhir who played a stroke-filled innings of 69. The two added 125 for the second wicket in just 22 overs and looked good to set up a big Indian score of 350 plus.
However, the fall of Tendulkar (111) proved to be the point of no return of the side. From a score of 267 for the loss of one wicket, India crashed to 296 all out. None of the middle-order batsmen could build on the excellent platform provided by the top order. Yuvraj Singh (12) fell to Jacques Kallis while Virat Kohli (1) was caught and bowled by Rob Peterson. Dale Steyn did most of the damage for South Africa sending Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan (0), Harbhajan Singh (3), Ashish Nehra (0) and Munaf Patel back in quick succession. At the end of the innings, captain Dhoni was stranded without a partner on 12, witness to one of the biggest batting collapses of the side in recent times.
Brief Score: India 296 in 48.4 overs (Sachin Tendulkar 111, Virender Sehwag 73, Gautam Gambhir 69, Dale Steyn 5/50)
