India capitulate as batting goes Hayward

It will be quite a surprise if Anand makes it to the stadium in the evening, when the bright floodlights will be in stark contrast to the grim-looking Indian dressing room. Their bowlers will have only 164 runs to defend when the South Africans begin the chase.

The Indian innings resembled the colour of sky here today — grey and murky. It lacked gameplan, even if the team management considers sending Mohammad Azharuddin at the number three a positive move. By sending Axzhar in early, India had the out-of-sorts Rahul Dravid blocking the later part of innings. And the Indians, looking quite comfortable at 80 for one (23 overs), capitulated to 164 allout — with seven balls still left in their quota of 50 overs.

A close look at the wicket before the game began in the afternoon gave an inkling of things to come. Curator Mohammad Jamil agreed that the "ball will keep low and a bit slow", unlike Sunday night’s free-wheeling surface. One expected the Indians’ collective experience to come good in a game they need desperately to win to stay afloat in the tournament.

But nobody put a foot right. Skipper Saurav Ganguly’s hangover of the couple of blazing knocks in the home ODI series continued, as he aggravated the pressure on his team by playing a loose stroke. It’s good to be aggressive, but not arrogant to the extent of underestimating the class of your rival bowlers and fielders.

Azhar’s promotion gave him a chance to play a long innings. He was middling the ball, and considering the slow outfield and top-class fielding by the South Africans, the runs were trickling in. Even a determined Tendulkar cut down on the extravagant strokes he has been trying in an effort to match his own reputation, and one expected India to make something worthwhile for their supporters to back them up in the evening. After all, the two have the ability to shift gears when required.

The Indian dream, however, started going sour when Azhar’s miscalculation led to his dismissal. He played an on drive and ran, misjudging the speed and accuracy of Neil McKenzie, who picked up the ball and threw down the stumps in a flash. India were furher hit as Ajay Jadeja — the centre of attraction here over his marriage announcement — barely lasted a couple of balls before he got a tricky lbw decision against him.

The onus was on Tendulkar to steady the innings and having spent considerable time out in the middle today, the expectations were justified. However, Tendulkar’s run out put paid to Indian hopes. Tendulkar placed a ball and started darting down the wicket like a schoolboy; Dravid also took off but after a couple of paces, shouted at Tendulkar to return to his end. It was too late by then as Tendulkar had come too far ahead, and the brilliance of Herschelle Gibbs sent Tendulkar packing.

Dravid, as he has done so many times in the past, put himself under further strain. Dot balls became the order of play and the innings simply came to a halt. The crowd became restive but the Indians had already taken the road to doom. Pacer Mornantau Hayward seized the opportunity to slice through the lower half of the innings to finish with 4 for 31.

INDIA

Saurav Ganguly c Boucher b Hayward 6 (13b, 1×4)
Sachin Tendulkar run out 39 (68b, 3×4)
Mohammad Azharuddin run out 36 (60b, 2×4)
Ajay Jadeja lbw Elworthy 0 (2b)
Rahul Dravid c McKenzie b Klusener 26 (60b, 2×4)
Robin Singh c Boucher b Hwayward 28 (45b, 1×4)
Saba Karim c McKenzie b Hayward 12 (22b)
Anil Kumble b Klusener 2 (4b)
Nikhil Chopra not out 1 (2b)
Ajit Agarkar lbw Hayward 4 (4b, 1×4) Venkatesh Prasad c Boucher b Ntini 1 (6b)
Extras: (w4, lb5) 9
Total: (allout in 48.5 overs) 164
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Ganguly), 2-80 (Azhar), 3-80 (Jadeja), 4-93 (Tendulkar), 5-124 (Dravid), 6-154 (Robin), 7-157 (Kumble), 8-159 (Karim), 9-163 (Agarkar)

Bowling: Mornamtau Hayward 10-2-31-4, Jacques Kallis 10-2-30-1, Makhaya Ntini 8.5-1-25-1, Steve Elworthy 8-1-28-1, Lance Klusener 10-1-3