India
square series with convincing win
KANPUR, Apr 13: India made amends
for the Ahmedabad debacle by thrashing
South Africa by eight wickets within
three days in a dramatic third and final
cricket Test to level the three-match
series 1-1 here today.
After two
days of pulsating battle between bat and
ball on an under-prepared green park
track, the Indians tilted the balance
decisively in their favour with a
splendid all-round display to ensure that
their impressive track record at home was
kept intact.
The script
could not have unfolded in a more
heartening way for the hosts as they
first took a crucial 60-run first innings
lead by scoring 325 and then skittled out
South Africa for a paltry 121 in just
55.5 overs in their second essay.
Needing 62
runs for victory, the Indians lost
Virender Sehwag (22) and Wasim Jaffer
(10) but former captains Sourav Ganguly
and Rahul Dravid steered the team home.
Rahul
Dravid hit the winning runs by sweeping
Paul Harris to the boundary at the fag
end of the day, triggering off
celebrations in the Indian dressing room.
None of
the South African batsmen could hang
around for long today on the
deteriorating surface, making the defiant
46-run last wicket partnership between S
Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma all the more
important.
Off-spinner
Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the
Indian bowlers with 4-44 while Virender
Sehwag returned with career-best Test
figures of 8.5-2-12-3.
Ishant
Sharma also played a big role taking two
wickets for 18 runs.
Captain
Graeme Smith was the top scorer for the
visitors with 35 while Ashwell Prince
remained unbeaten on 22 on an eventful
day.
Like the
second Test in Ahmedabad, the match got
over within three days but this time it
was the home team which had the last
laugh.
The South
African second innings began poorly as
they were reduced to 27 for two by lunch
and could never really recover with the
Indian bowlers exploiting the crumbling
track to good effect.
The
visitors showed signs of a fightback with
captain Smith and the experienced Jacques
Kallis batting resolutely to steady the
ship but Sehwag’s twin blows late in
the post-lunch session put India in an
advantageous position.
Both were
a picture of concentration as they played
cautiously against both seamers and
spinners to help the team wipe out the
deficit without losing any more wickets.
After the
second drinks break, captain Mahendra
Singh Dhoni introduced Sehwag and he
struck with his first delivery by
scalping Kallis.
Sehwag
bowled a quicker delivery outside
off-stump and Kallis went back and across
to play it, the ball spun sharply and
Wasim Jaffer took a smart catch at
short-leg.
Ashwell
Prince, who joined the action after
Kallis’ dismissal, could have been
out in the very first ball he faced.
Prince tried to close the face of the bat
and got a leading edge, but Jaffer could
not react quickly enough to catch it.
Sehwag
then did the star turn by getting the
well-settled smith bowled round the legs
with a fastish delivery.
The South
Africans took tea at a precarious 88 for
four but the wickets started falling in a
heap in the last session with Ab De
Villiers (7), Mark Boucher (5), Morne
Morkel (0) and Paul Harris (0) departing
in quick succession to put the home team
in control of the game.
Harbhajan
dismissed De Villiers in the first over
after tea with Laxman taking a smart
catch at backward short leg and then
Ishant Sharma produced a devastating
spell to evict Boucher and Morkel.
The day
began with tailenders S Sreesanth and
Ishant Sharma adding some crucial runs to
give India a handy 60-run first innings
lead.
Resuming
at the overnight score of 288 for nine,
the two tailenders frustrated the
visitors with some streaky shots to a
stitch 46-run partnership for the last
wicket before the innings folded at 325
shortly after the first drinks break.
SCOREBOARD
South
Africa 1st innings: 265
India, 1st
innings: (overnight 288 for 9)
Jaffer lbw
b Morkel 15
Sehwag lbw
b Steyn 8
Dravid c
De Villiers b Morkel 29
Laxman b
Morkel 50
Ganguly c
Amla b Steyn 87
Singh c De
Villiers b Harris 32
Dhoni st
Boucher b Harris 32
H Singh
lbw b Steyn 6
Chawla c
Smith b Ntini 4
Sreesanth
c Prince b Harris 29
I Sharma
not out 14
Extras:
(b-8, lb-6, nb-4, w-1) 19
Total:
(all out in 99.4 overs) 325
Fall of
Wickets: 1-18, 2-35, 3-113, 4-123, 5-188,
6-248, 7-268, 8-279, 9-279, 10-325.
Bowling:
Dale Steyn 20-1-71-3, Makhaya Ntini
21-7-47-1, Morne Morkel 15-2-63-3, Paul
Harris 32.4-8-101-3, Jacques Kallis
9-1-23-0, Hashim Amla 2-0-6-0.
South
Africa 2nd innings:
McKenzie
lbw b Sreesanth 14
Smith b
Sehwag 35
Amla c
Jaffer b Harbhajan 0
Kallis c
Jaffer b Sehwag 15
Prince not
out 22
De
Villiers c Laxman b Harbhajan
7
Boucher c
Dhoni b Sharma 5
Morkel b
Sharma 0
Harris c
Dravid b Harbhajan 0
Steyn b
Harbhajan 7
Ntini c
Ganguly b Sehwag 0
Extras
(b-12, lb-1, nb-2, w-1) 16
Total (all
out in 55.5 overs) 121
Fall of
Wickets: 1-26, 2-27, 3-65, 4-72, 5-90,
6-101, 7-101, 8-102, 9-114.
Bowling:
Harbhajan 23-7-44-4, Sharma 10-2-1-2,
Sreesanth 9-4-9-1, Chawla 4-0-18-0,
Sehwag 8.-2-12-3, Yuvraj 1-0-7-0.
India 2nd
innings:
Jaffer lbw
b Morkel 10
Sehwag c
Prince b Harris 22
Ganguly
not out 13
Dravid not
out 18
Extras
(nb-1) 1
Total (for
two wickets in 13.1 overs) 64
Fall of
Wickets: 1-32, 2-32.
Bowling:
Steyn 2-0-15-0, Ntini 1-0-5-0, Harris
5.1-0-36-1, Morkel 5-1-8-1. (PTI)
West
Indies beats Sri Lanka
PORT OF SPAIN (Trinidad),
Apr 13: Shivnarine Chanderpaul and
Marlon Samuels hit unbeaten half
centuries to pilot West Indies to a
series-clinching, seven-wicket victory
over Sri Lanka in the rain-shortened
second one-day cricket at Queen’s
Park Oval.
Veteran
Chanderpaul, hero of the opening match
win, struck 52 not out off 42 balls and
shared an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of
107 off 88 balls with Samuels.
The West
Indies, chasing a revised target of 125
off 25 overs, reached the mark with 4.3
overs to spare.
Samuels
returned to form with an undefeated 54
off 49 deliveries. The right-hander hit
three sixes and three fours.
The pair
rescued the home team from 18 for three
in the sixth over as Nuwan Kulasekara
(three for 28) sliced through the top
order.
Sri Lanka
had earlier limped to 112 for five off
30.3 overs either side of an hour-long
rain delay. Upul Tharanga topscored with
40 off 82 balls but the visitors were
stalled by the rain at 83 for two off
24.1 overs.
On
resumption, Sri Lanka lost three quick
wickets before heavy rain returned and
caused a delay of almost four hours.
Captain
Chris Gayle grabbed two cheap wickets as
the home team seized the advantage before
the second delay.
Dhoni
happy with successful bowling changes
KANPUR, Apr 13: Elated after
leading India to a series-equalling
victory against South Africa,
India’s stand-in Test captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is particularly
happy with the successful bowling changes
he made today.
Skippering
India in absence of regular Test captain
Anil Kumble, Dhoni intelligently
marshalled his bowlers and effected smart
bowling changes to plot South
Africa’s peril.
"It
was one of those days when everything
worked in our favour. I made five changes
(in the South Africa second innings) and
got eight wickets," Dhoni said.
Dhoni
sprang a surprise today by opening the
attack with Harbhajan Singh and then
cleverly rotated the bowlers not to allow
the South African batsmen settle into a
rhythm.
One
instance was when he tossed the ball to
Virender Sehwag and the part-time spinner
removed Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis.
"We
were a slightly in the backfoot after
losing the toss but everybody contributed
to this win. It is a complete team
effort," Dhoni said.
South
African skipper Graeme Smith conceded
India outplayed them in the Test but said
they would return home with their heads
high after the 1-1 series result.
"India
had been clinical throughout the Test.
Their bowlers bowled at the right places.
Their spinners played superb and it was
difficult to play strokes. "We did
not bowl our best in India’s first
innings and some dropped catches resulted
India taking a good lead. (PTI)
Paes,
Bhupathi lose reverse singles
NEW DELHI, Apr 13: Playing singles
after lengthy breaks, Leander Paes and
Mahesh Bhupathi’s surprisingly
lacklustre performances helped Japan
secure consolation wins in the
inconsequential reverse matches of the
Davis Cup Asia/Oceania zone second round
tie here today.
India had
won the tie yesterday after taking a 3-0
lead in the best-of-five tie to advance
to the world group playoff in September
and today’s contests were basically
"fun matches", as described by
skipper Paes yesterday.
But the
Japanese, playing for pride, made sure
that they went home with a more
creditable 3-2 score line after Kei
Nishikori thrashed Bhupathi 7-5 6-1 in
less than an hour before Satoshi Iwabuchi
beat Paes 6-4 4-6 6-4 to round off an
all-win final day for the visitors.
First up
was Bhupathi, who put up a rather
ordinary display which bordered on being
half-hearted against the Japanese teen,
who did not allow the Indian to settle
into his serve and volley game.
The
rustiness of playing his first singles
match in almost seven years were very
much evident in Bhupathi’s game as
he hardly made an effort to match
Nishikori’s powerful game on the
baseline.
In the
opening set that lasted 35 minutes,
Nishikori was the first to get the break
after Bhupathi buried a simple backhand
return into nets in the seventh game.
The Indian
tried to draw Nishikori to the net but
the Japanese made sure that the match was
played to his strength, on the baseline.
The uneven bounce of the court did
trouble Nishikori when he lost his serve
in the 10th game but he was able to break
back in the very next game after Bhupathi
double-faulted with the Japanese leading
40-15. Leading 40-0 in the 12th game,
Nishikori sent down an unplayable serve
that Bhupathi could only manage to
deflect to the nets. (PTI)
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