surendar
ICC Chairman
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- Feb 15, 2006
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India In SouthAfrica
India Vs SouthAfrica
Twenty20 Match,Johannesburg.
End of 6 Overs, 2nd Innings.
SA Bowlers put India in Check!
( Openers, Sehwag & Gambhir back to Pavilion )
( Openers, Sehwag & Gambhir back to Pavilion )
Welcome back to the second session of this match between India and SouthAfrica, where the home team have left a massive task for visitors to chase 210 for winning this game. Very soon after the first session, SA fielders and umpires came out. They were followed by the Indian openers, Sehwag and Gambhir. There was still an excellent support for Indian side from crowd. Huge roaring noise came from Indian side spectators out of their excitements in this game. Huge expectations were there on Indian openers to get off to a flying start but sadly, it didn't happen for India.
Gambhir, The Victim of Steyn.
Pollock and Steyn shared the new ball. Sehwag was outsmarted by Pollock in very first over. He was decieved by Pollock's line and length. This start from India silenced their spectators. Pressure on India also increased with Required run rate climbing at rapid rate.
This slow start made Gambhir to try for big hit in very next over which was bowled by Steyn. Gambhir attempted to go over the top for the maximum but the distance wasn't enough to cross the fielder near ropes. Ball landed safely in fielder's hands. This delighted the entire SouthAfrican team. Celebrations continued for home team.
Gambhir was frustrated a lots and made his way back to pavilion. Indian spectators were very much disappointed too. Suresh Raina replaced Gambhir at the crease.
Sehwag's Shaky Start.
Its to be noted that Sehwag opened his run account with a boundary in first over after struggling a lot against Pollock. In similar way, he was struggling against Steyn too. He was never looking comfortable with this new format where there is pressure always 'ON' on the batsman to score runs each and every ball.
SouthAfrican skipper, Smith understood this very well and as a result, he attacked Sehwag even more with attacking field set. However, Sehwag managed to score another boundary in Steyn's bouncer by playing a cheeky shot. It almost carried to slips but was lucky enough that ball found the gap and travelled fast towards the boundary. Outfield seemed very quick too.
Experienced Pollock Gets-rid of Sehwag.
In one of the deliveries of Pollock to Sehwag, there was a slow ball attempted by bowler. Sehwag attempted to put that away by nice looking leg glance. The shot was well timed but unfortunately, it made the ball to travel flat in air for some time. At the same time, fielding was exceptional to such a way that, Hall made a fantastic dive in front and managed to get hold of that catch.
Thus, a brilliant catch put an end to struggling Sehwag and applied even more pressure on India. Sehwag walked back to pavilion with his face down as he was well aware that he didn't get the start which his side expected from him. Also, there were lot of frustrations among Indian dressing room and also among all the Indian fans.
Yuvraj Singh arrived under massive pressure, and the scorecard was just showing 10 runs for the loss of two wickets.
:Yuvi's Fantastic Start.
With the situation demanding more from Yuvraj, he responded to it very well. Yuvi started attacking the bowlers straight away. His confidence level seemed so great and it brought the fans to have some hopes on India once again after the frustrating start from openers.
Yuvi played some fantastic shots which included a well timed, massive SIX! But the same Yuvraj, when attempted to play a similar shot to accelerate the scoring card, got a nice top edge and ball went very high in the air without enough distance. SA fielder, Villiers too got very well under the ball but somehow, may be due to lights, missed a easy catch. Ball landed on Villiers's hands and fell down to the ground as he did not have enough grip on it.
This brought frustrations for both the skipper,Smith as well as for the bowler. However, it didn't disturb Yuvi's confidence level. He played a lovely pull shot against a bouncer very soon.
Yuvi's scoring rate increased ball by ball which inturn also accelerated the team's scoring rate. But in other end, Raina became a silent customer. He was very much contented to give singles to Yuvi and to keep him(Yuvi) on strike. But, this can't continue like this for long time as its a Twenty20 and not 50 overs game.
Can India recover???
Well with just 39 runs coming for India in first 6 Overs, the pressure on them(India) is very massive. SouthAfrican bowlers have done their job perfectly till now. For India, batsmen need to fire from both the ends. Yuvraj, after getting his needed start with bat, has to stay till the end for better results. For SouthAfrica, their skipper will be pleased if his remaining bowlers too maintain the same momentum left by Pollock and Steyn. Have to wait and see whether the visitors bounce back or just fade down. Stay Tuned!
India : 39/2( 6 Overs, SA :209/9)
Yuvraj Singh : 24*(18)
S.Raina : 6*(8)
V.Sehwag : 8(8) Dismissed by Pollock.
G.Gambhir : 0(2) Dismissed by Steyn.
S.Pollock : 21(20) Dismissed by Zaheer.
S.Pollock : 1/19(3 Overs)
D.Steyn : 1/20(3 Overs )
India need 171 from 14 Overs at 12.21 Runs Required Per Over.
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