Durban — All-rounder Jacques Kallis scored his 14th century and speedster Andrew Nel took four wickets as South Africa defeated India by 157 runs in the second one-day international here Thursday.
Kallis’ responsible 119 not out (160 balls, 15x4s) helped South Africa to put up 248 for eight wickets in 50 overs, and Nel bowled with speed and venom to help bowl India out for 91 in just 29.1 overs – with almost 20 overs to spare. Kallis chipped in with three wickets too.
Only Sachin Tendulkar withstood the South African pace onslaught to an extent and made 35 (51 balls, 5x4s) before the middle and lower order crumbled under pressure.
After captain Graeme Smith won the toss and opted to bowl, India started disastrously as debutant Wasim Jaffer was bowled off the third ball by fast bowler Shaun Pollock as he chopped the ball on to his wicket with an angled bat. Not a run had been scored by India by then.
Virender Sehwag sat out the match as he has apparently not fully recovered from the cut that he had received on his ring finger. The stitches that he required were either not removed or had still not healed.
Mohammed Kaif was promoted to No. 3 and he and Tendulkar started the repair job. At 26, Ntini had a loud and confident shout against Tendulkar when he was at 26. But umpire Billy Doctrove of the West Indies turned down the appeal.
Kaif and Tendulkar were successful only to an extent in the mending job before the former pushed a Pollock delivery and only managed to edge the ball to Herschelle Gibbs at point for a simple catch. He scored eight off 19 balls.
The fall of Kaif brought captain Rahul Dravid to the crease and he formed the most experienced pair with Tendulkar, who was already looking confident after scoring 30.
With a whopping experienced of 670 one-day internationals between the two batsmen, Tendulkar, a former captain, and Dravid started their partnership. It, however, did not last long as just 23 runs had accrued when pacer Charl Langeveldt castled Dravid between the bat and pad.
In the next over, fast bowler Andre Nel found Tendulkar’s off stump via his bat with an express delivery. At 62 for four, the fizz from India’s reply was gone, and it was just a matter of time before the innings folded up.
Only three batsmen – Tendulkar, Dravid and Dhoni (14) – reached double figures.
Nel, as usual all pepped up and enthusiastic, was the pick of the South African bowlers as he took four wickets for 13 runs in eight overs while Kallis took three for three in 4.1 overs.
Earlier, Kallis had shown his capability with the bat as he scored his maiden century against India. He was the common thread that ran through the innings.
But South Africa had a poor start as captain Graeme Smith was out leg before the wicket to left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan when the total was three.
Zaheer was playing his first ODI since the Karachi match against Pakistan Feb 19. The left-armer, back in the team on the basis of some excellent performance in English Country Championships this summer, also took the second wicket to fall.
As Loots Bosman tried to play in a hurry, he failed to connect the bat with the ball and was out LBW.
At 47 for two, it was not an ideal start to the innings in front of a packed stadium.
The scoreline looked poorer when the tallest Indian pacer Munaf Patel induced an edge from Herschelle Gibbs, batting unusually at No. 4 instead of opening the innings, for wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to catch.
But Kallis, who kept one end going, and A.B. de Villiers then stopped the regular falling of wickets as they mended the innings with an 87-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
The stand was flourishing when de Villiers suddenly thought of reverse sweeping a delivery from part-time left-arm spinner Dinesh Mongia. But in the process he slipped, failed to connect and Dhoni whipped off the bails in a flash. De Villiers made 41 good runs (47 balls, 3x4s, 1×6).
But the next man Mark Boucher and Kallis were undaunted and the two scored 46 for the next wicket before the former perished while playing an inside-out shot to Patel. Zaheer Khan at deep cover took a simple catch.
Then, pacer Ajit Agarkar, the senior most pacer in the team, struck twice in an over, removing Justin Kemp, who was caught behind by Dhoni, and Shaun Pollock, whose half-hearted pull was caught by Tendulkar.
Andre Nel chipped in with 22, while Kallis remained unbeaten after a responsible, workmanlike innings.
Munaf, Zaheer and Agarkar took two wickets each, while Mongia took one.
SCOREBOARD
Second one-day international, India vs. South Africa (day-night), Kingsmead, Durban, Nov 22
South Africa:
Graeme Smith lbw b Zaheer 1
Loots Bosman lbw b Zaheer 22
Jacques Kallis not out 119
Herschelle Gibbs c Dhoni b Patel 2
A.B. de Villiers st Dhoni b Mongia 41
Mark Boucher c Zaheer b Patel 23
Justin Kemp c Dhoni b Agarkar 8
Shaun Pollock c Tendulkar b Agarkar 0
Andre Nel run out (Agarkar) 22
Extras: (lb 1, w 9) 10
Total: (for eight wickets in 50 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Smith, 1.2 overs), 2-47 (Bosman, 9.4), 3-63 (Gibbs, 15.3), 4-150 (de Villiers, 33.6), 5-196 (Boucher, 41.4), 6-209 (Kemp, 45.1), 7-209 (Pollock, 45.4), 8-248 (Nel, 49.6)
Bowling:
Munaf Patel 10 2 39 2
Zaheer Khan 8 0 53 2 (wides 3)
Ajit Agarkar 9 1 47 2
Sachin Tendulkar 9 1 33 0
Harbhajan Singh 10 0 59 0 (w 1)
Dinesh Mongia 4 0 16 1
India:
Wasim Jaffer b Pollock 0
Sachin Tendulkar b Nel 35
Mohammed Kaif c Gibbs b Pollock 8
Rahul Dravid b Langeveldt 18
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Boucher b Nel 14
Suresh Raina c Kallis b Nel 4
Dinesh Mongia c Kemp b Kallis 1
Harbhajan Singh lbw b Kallis 1
Ajit Agarkar b Kallis 6
Zaheer Khan c Boucher b Nel
Munaf Patel not out 0
Extras: (w 1, nb 2) 3
Total: (all out in 29.1 overs) 91
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Jaffer, 0.3 overs), 2-39 (Kaif, 8.6), 3-62 (Dravid, 15.6), 4-62 (Tendulkar, 16.2), 5-82 (Raina, 22.1), 6-83 (Dhoni, 22.6), 7-83 (Mongia, 23.6), 8-84 (Harbhajan, 25.2), 9-85 (Khan, 26.4)
Bowling:
Shaun Pollock 7 2 17 2
Makhaya Ntini 6 0 32 0 (wides 1)
Charl Langeveldt 4 0 26 1 (no balls 2)
Andre Nel 8 2 13 4
Jacques Kallis 4.1 1 3 3
Result: South Africa won by 157 runs
Man of the Match: Jacques Kallis
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (West Indies) and Ian Howell (South Africa)
TV umpire: Brian Jerling (South Africa)
Match referee: Chris Broad (England)