surendar
ICC Chairman
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2006
- Location
- Bentonville, US
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- India
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- Don Bradman Cricket 14 - PS3
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India In SouthAfrica
India Vs SouthAfrica
First ODI Match(D/N),Johannesburg.
End of the Match.
SA Win by 10 Wickets!
( No Resistance from Indian side, a complete Domination by SA )
( No Resistance from Indian side, a complete Domination by SA )
Well, under bright flood lights, Indian players came out of the dressing room. There was some dullness seen in some player's face. With low total to defend, in such a so called batting track and against a quality batting lineup, it's always not going to be easy. SouthAfrican openers, Smith and Gibbs made their way to the ground from dressing room and both received great applauses from the crowd as signs of encouragement to the start. Zaheer and Sreesanth opened the bowling for India.
Gibbs off to a Flying Start!
The very first ball of Zaheer was smashed away in an aggressive manner by Gibbs. It was a terrific pull shot against the short pitched delivery of Zaheer. The result was ball going to the fence like a rocket. Fielders even found it harder to keep track of that ball when it passed near them on it's way to the boundary.
This did not stop with that boundary alone. It increased the confidence level of Gibbs to go over the bowlers blindly. And infact the attacking approach continued. Zaheer was very expensive in his very first over. It made the Indian captain clueless. Boundaries came in for Gibbs at regular intervals. This was the right start which SouthAfrican looked for and ultimately, it remained as a great entertainment to the home side spectators.
FireWorks from SouthAfrican Skipper.
It was not only Zaheer getting punished. Sreesanth also joined in this smashing list. He was even more punished by South African skipper, Smith. One thing which remained as a common approach from both the batsmen was, " Blindly going over the bowlers! ".
Smith played some aggressive shots all around. Cracking shots in off side provided a great display for the spectators. Also, one handed pull shot was one among the most enjoyed shots by spectators. Smith attempted an aggressive hook shot against Sreesanth. Aggression to such an extent that Smith blindly made a free swing of the bat even after his one of hand slipping away from the bat's grip. It looked like a one handed pull shot.
Since the fielder was standing inside the circle, ball easily landed in no man's area and reached the boundary.Attacking start from South Africans made Dravid and his men to press the panic button. Faces from Indian dressing room did not look that good. They seem to be sitting with full frustrations and disappointments. Runs were flowing freely for South Africans.
Running.. Running .. & Kept on Running behind the ball!
Both the batsmen were just enjoying the bowling to huge extent. They kept on smashing the bowlers all around the field. This made the fielders to continuously run behind the white ball.
Some of them were saved with great efforts near the boundary. And some of those only frustrated the fielders. Some of the chases were given up only in last second. This not only frustrated the fielders but also irritated the Indian captain & the bowler. Bowling change was made by Dravid.. but still it did not put a check to this free flow of runs.
Already, many spectators have started thinking, " If this could happen for SouthAfrican batsmen, then why it did not happen to Indian batsmen except Sachin Tendulkar? " :what Already, many Indian spectators were just cursing their bowlers. Meanwhile, for home side supporters, it was just delightful to watch their players performing in an extra ordinary manner.
Smith's Fifty in No Time!
Spinners were brought on early by Dravid. Sehwag and Karthik were experimented. Sehwag was punished badly in his first over. Karthik did try to trouble the batsmen though with his some good deliveries.
Still, South African skipper, Smith reached his half century in very quick time. It just took him around 30 deliveries for his fifty. He raised his bat proudly towards his home crowd and received many many standing applauses for such an exceptional entertainment. What a brilliant innings this has been by Smith! :hpraise
Some minor hopes Not Utilized!
Since both the batsmen were going on blindly, there were some careless shots played. One of those was, Gibbs going silly against Karthik. He walked across a bit towards offstump and tried to play the ball backwards. But it was not properly timed which resulted in ball going in the air. Fielder came running towards the ball to catch it but, he missed it!
: Karthik kept his hands over his head and showed signs of disappointment.Same Karthik was once again frustrated. This time, it was Smith's chance. He went for a huge shot. Ball went very high in the air and seem to land safely in fielder's hands. But the catch was not taken. Ball landed to the ground and went towards the boundary ropes. Once again, the bowler was just able to give a helpless look at his skipper.
These things not only frustrated the bowler and spectators, but it also irritated Dravid the most. Indian skipper was speechless and clueless of the things happening around him.
SA Batsmen's Encounter Continued!
Bowling was shuffled by Indian skipper. Ganguly, Karthik and Zaheer were experimented by Dravid but nothing seem to stop this fast & furious approach of South Africans. Pathan, Sreesanth and Sehwag were not given another spell though due to their worst first spell. Gibbs also reached his half century and got great applauses from the crowd.
Both Gibbs and Smith continued their aggressive momentum and kept the scorecard moving towards the target. Indian bowlers never seemed to get back their control. Another amazing thing from South Africans was the Run Rate. Their scoring rate was kept always over 6 RPO right from the first over. It was just the 22nd over and SA came near the target with just few runs to grab the victory in this match. It looked like a Twenty 20 for spectators. Nevermind, entertainment of any sorts is always good to watch for the audience.
SA Won the First ODI.
Everything came to an end soon. Gibbs and Smith remained unbeaten and took SA to cross the victory line. Both the batsmen jumped with joy after the win. Indian players had their heads down as it was one of the worst defeats to forget as a bad dream.
Players exchanged handshakes and left to the dressing room. Indian dressing room did not look good either. Coach and players there sat with their hands on their heads. Worries and disappointments filled the Indian dressing room. Also Indian fans were very much frustrated too.
SA Batting Card.
India's Pathetic Bowling Display.
Well, with SA winning this first ODI in very convincing and dominating style, they go forward with 1-0 in this 3 match ODI series. Indian team have plenty of things to learn from this ODI. They should re-think and re-work on their strategies. They had to win the next ODI to keep the series alive. For Smith, he would be very pleased with his team's performance in the first match. He would be looking forward to maintain the same momentum in next two matches too and grab the series with whitewash.
Can India bounce back from this situation? Can India improve this pathetic display on the field? Can SouthAfrica manage to create a complete white wash against the opponents? Have to wait and see how this series turns out to be with SA stepping up 1-0 in this three match ODI series.
SA managed a Dominating Win by 10 Wickets!
