India surrender, lose Test in three days |
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Sunday April 6, 12:17 AM
Ahmedabad, April 5: After providing brief resistance to spark off hopes of action on the fourth day, India lost six wickets in the final session to crash to one of their heaviest defeats at home. Another top-order collapse foretold the inevitability of India’s defeat in the second Test of the Future Cup; it was only a question of ‘when’. The moment arrived a few minutes before close when S. Sreesanth gifted his wicket to give South Africa a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series. South Africa won by an innings and 90 runs as India folded for 328 in their second innings.
It was India’s first innings defeat at home in eight years. Incidentally, India last suffered the ignominy at the hands of the same opponents at Bangalore in 2000. India’s last defeat under three days on home soil was against Australia at Mumbai in 2001.
Sourav Ganguly and M.S. Dhoni fought hard to salvage some pride after yet another disastrous top-order performance. At a time when Ganguly’s place in the team was questioned in many quarters, he came up with an innings of grace. It was a knock that improved technically as time wore on.
Ganguly’s dismissal after tea took South Africa closer to a famous win. Ganguly’s well-compiled 87 and his 110-run stand for the fifth wicket with Dhoni saved India from bigger embarrassment.
Earlier, South Africa declared at the overnight score of 494/7. India did not enjoy the best of starts. A combination of incisive, hostile bowling from the visitors and the inability of the batsmen to hold back their shots contributed to the failure of the Indian top-order for the second time in the match.
After the first innings debacle, the hosts’ fate depended on individual brilliance rather than on the collective might of the team. Virender Sehwag began in the only way he is familiar with. An old-fashioned hook where he took the ball from behind the left shoulder was the first scoring shot. Two balls later, the wrists were held firmly to deposit the ball into the stands over square leg. The first over went for two sixes but the attacking impetus could not be sustained as Makhaya Ntini trapped Viru with a delivery that came in sharply with the angle. Dayle Steyn and Ntini worked up menacing pace. And with five fielders behind the bat, the demand was on watertight technique to survive that phase. Wasim Jaffer flirted with danger as he was not able to keep his desire to drive under check. Rahul Dravid who looked solid as ever perished to a Morkel ball that got big on him. AB de Villiers accepted Dravid’s offer at third slip.
The Indian rearguard action started in the post lunch session with V.V.S. Laxman and Ganguly collecting runs with ease. The rate at which the runs were coming clearly indicated that the wicket had lost its freshness gained from the previous night’s rain.
Laxman fell to momentary madness, chasing a wide delivery to reward Morkel for his perseverance. The introduction of Paul Harris in the 32nd over lifted the pressure off Ganguly who relished the predictable length of the left-arm spinner. Three shots from Ganguly stood out. A late cut off Harris and two straight drives off Morkel were easy on the eye. Ganguly fell after tea to a delivery pitched right up by Steyn. Dhoni and Irfan Pathan, who was timing the ball nicely, played on merit to string a 33-run stand. Dhoni chased a Nitini delivery shortly after his 50 and the end was nigh for the hosts.
The last 20 minutes were chaos. Sreesanth and Pathan took turns in trying to get out with the Kerala star winning the battle. Nothing signified the meekness of the Indians better than the final moments when every trick was tried to hand over the match.
South Africa, on the other hand, deserved every inch of this famous win.
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