Johannesburg, Jan 15: India completed a hard fought one-run win against South Africa in the second One-Day International played at the New Wanderers Stadium here in Johannesburg today. Munaf Patel, who took four wickets on the night, played the biggest part in securing a win for the visitors that now leaves the five match series tied 1-1.
South Africa began their run chase by losing Hashim Amla (4) to a Munaf Patel delivery in just the second over of their innings. However, captain Graeme Smith batted with positive intent right through his innings. He forged some modest but significant partnerships with the other top order batsmen while steering the South African run chase. There was a 59-run partnership with Colin Ingram (25) for the second wicket and a 43-run partnership with JP Duminy (13) for the fourth wicket.
At 152/4, with Smith leading the way with an individual score of 77, South Africa, needing another 39 runs to win off 18 overs, appeared to be in cruise control. Munaf Patel then produced the ball that turned the match on its head as he got Smith to drag one back on to his stumps. Zaheer Khan struck next, getting rid of David Miller (27) and Johan Botha (4) in successive overs. Still with the hosts requiring 26 off the last 14 overs with three wickets in hand, it was India that was under pressure.
That pressure would eventually work to South Africa’s disadvantage as Dale Steyn was run out 14 short of the victory target. A little later, with the hosts requiring less than a boundary to go up 2-0 in the series, Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell ended up offering straightforward catches to point off Munaf Patel in the 43rd over of the innings. India had held their never to complete a famous one-run victory. Patel with his four wickets on the night, was the hero of India’s dramatic turnaround.
Earlier, India captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Both teams fielded unchanged squads from the first match in Durban.
India, keen on not losing any early wickets, were slow to get going. It was their difficulty to score runs that claimed Murali Vijay’s wicket - the Tamil Nadu batsman fell for an individual score of 16 trying to up the pace of the Indian innings. Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli then survived a difficult period of play, seeing out the initial spells of the hosts’ pacers while preserving India’s wickets. But with Kohli (22) and Tendulkar (24) falling in consecutive overs, and India’s score faltering at 67/3 in 19 overs, South Africa had the game firmly in their control.
Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni gave India its best passage of play next. The two were involved in an 83-run partnership that gave Indian supporters hope of a 250-plus total. It was at this stage that Tsotsobe upset India’s calculations. Bowling with pace, accuracy and bounce, the left-arm seamer dismissed Yuvraj (53), Suresh Raina (11) and Dhoni (38) to leave India struggling at 175/6 in 44 overs.
Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel cleaned up India’s tail, splitting the last four wickets between them. The visitors were finally bowled out for a paltry 190 in 47.2 overs
Tsotsobe’s four-wicket haul in today’s game comes immediately after his Man-of-the-Match winning performance in Durban where he finished with figures of 4 for 31 in 8.4 overs.
Brief Scores: India 190 in 47.2 overs (Yuvraj Singh 53, Lonwabo Tsotsobe 4/22) beat South Africa 189 in 43 overs (Graeme Smith 77, Munaf Patel 4/29) by one run
Man-of-the-Match: Munaf Patel for his figures of 8-0-29-4 that inspired a dramatic Indian win to level the five match series
