Durban, Jan 12: South Africa inflicted a crushing 135-run defeat on India in the first of the five ODIs to be played between the two sides here in Kingsmead, Durban. Asked to chase 290 to win under lights, the Indian batting failed to rise to the challenge posed by South Africa’s pacers and were bowled out for a score of 154.
The Indian batting began stuttered right from the beginning. Murali Vijay was trapped LBW by Dale Steyn while Sachin Tendulkar fell to a Lonwabo Tsotsobe delivery that took the top-edge of his bat and landed safe in the hands of Dale Steyn at fine leg. Rohit Sharma (11) and Yuvraj Singh (2) fell not very much later to Morne Morkel, who was South Africa’s most economical bowler on the night.
MS Dhoni (25) was run out when a straight drive from Virat Kohli brushed Wayne Parnell’s finger tips and crashes into the stumps at the bowler's end. At this stage India were well and truly out of the game with the score reading a disappointing 95/5 in 22.5 overs.
Virat Kohli’s half century remained the only high point in what was otherwise a below par batting display by the Indians. The visitors lost their last five wickets for the addition of another 59 runs. Suresh Raina scored 32. For South Africa, Tsotsobe was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/31.
Earlier, South Africa captain Graeme Smith won the toss and opted to bat first. Smith, keen to seize the initial advantage, began adventurously, repeatedly stepping down the crease. He even hit the Indian bowlers for a couple of boundaries but eventually top edged an Ashish Nehra delivery to Rohit Sharma at first slip. Smith made 11.
Hashim Amla then played an uncharacteristically brisk innings bludgeoning the Indian bowlers for a 36-ball 50 (8x4). But with Munaf Patel accounting for Colin Ingram (5) and Amla (5) in successive overs, the Indians came back into the game. South Africa, at this stage, were 82/3 in 14 overs.
AB de Villiers and JP Duminy guided the South Africa innings from thereon. Both batsmen reached their respective half-centuries in a 131-run partnership that came off just 21.5 overs. With India looking to wilt under their onslaught, MS Dhoni then threw the ball to his part-time spinners - Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina.
It proved to be an inspired move as, between them, Sharma and Raina accounted for de Villiers (76), David Miller (9) and Duminy (73). The part-timers had succeeded in slowing South Africa’s momentum from 200/3 in 33.1 overs to 244/6 in 42 overs.
The hosts would eventually finish their innings with a score of 289/9, with Wayne Parnell remaining unbeaten on 21. It would prove to be a winning score on the night.
Brief Scores: South Africa 289/9 in 50 overs (AB de Villiers 76, JP Duminy 73, Hashim Amla 50, Rohit Sharma 2/30, Munaf Patel 2/36, Zaheer Khan 2/44) beat India 154 all out in 35.4 overs (Virat Kohli 54, Suresh Raina 32, Lonwabo Tsotsobe 4/31) by 135 runs
Man-of-the-Match: Lonwabo Tsotsobe for his figures of four for 31 off 8.4 overs.
