South Africa showed plenty of belief and big match temperament to score a memorable victory over India in the Cricket World Cup on Saturday in Nagpur. It was a huge win for the Proteas after the disappointment of their loss to England in their previous outing.
Chasing India's 296 all out, South Africa reached 300 for 7 with two balls remaining to record their third win in four matches at the World Cup.
It was a match that appeared to be India's for the taking after they got away to a very fast start, bringing up 100 in the 12th over and 200 after 30.2 overs, with only one wicket down.
South African captain Graeme Smith, speaking at the post-match press conference, said: "It was our opportunity to change perceptions and I think we did extremely well today."
'A massive beating'
However, he conceded: "For 15 overs, we were on the back end of a massive beating there.
"The noise out there for those first 15 overs was really intense and I think the guys showed massive composure and we just focused our minds, and we hung in there really well today, and when we got our moments we pounced on them really well with the ball.
"The same with the bat. I don't think it was that easy a wicket. It didn't play as well as we expected it to play in the evening and, again, we just hung in there and built partnerships and pounced at the end."
Dale Steyn, who finished the contest as man of the match, was dispatched for 34 runs off his first four overs. "After the first few overs, we were definitely staring down the barrel," he said.
"They kept putting up those projected scores, if they scored at 8 runs an over, and I kept thinking to myself 'Jeepers, what's happening here?'
Indian collapse
"But we knew that the powerplays are something that either works for you or works against you and when we got the one [wicket] down we knew they would come out blazing and there would be an opportunity again, but we didn't quite expect nine wickets for 29 runs," he added about an Indian collapse that saw them fall from 267 for 1 to 296 all out.
Smith said India's fast scoring brought back memories of one of the most famous games in one-day international history. "On the team bus this morning, one of the managers said to me 'it's the anniversary of the 438 game', and at one stage I was having nightmares about having to chase over 400 again."
When asked what lessons had been learnt from the match, Smith said: "We're just too excited to think about that now.
"The nice thing now is that we get to play every couple of days and we can really build on this high, hopefully, and go to [play] Ireland and Bangladesh and play well there."
Wild scenes
Asked to describe the scene in the change room, he said: "There was a lot of tackling and screaming and shouting. I think even our psychologist got a black eye from one of the tackles.
"It's fine, he's worked in rugby, he's used to it," laughed Smith.
After the Indians' torrid start to their innings, it looked as if it was going to be one-way traffic as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag made merry. A couple of South African errors also added to the agony for the men in green and gold.
Wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk grassed a catch offered by Sehwag just to his right off the bowling of Morne Morkel in the second over. In the very next over, sent down by Dale Steyn, umpire Simon Taufel, arguably the best at his job in the world, turned down an LBW shout against Sehwag. South Africa chose not to review it, but television replays subsequently showed that the Indian opener should have been given out.
The pitch was playing very true and that helped Tendulkar and Sehwag play with freedom against the South African pacemen. The fifty came up in the seventh over and Sehwag then went to his personal fifty off 44 deliveries, with 10 fours to his name.
Century partnership
The century partnership took only 71 deliveries and was reached in the twelfth over as the pro-India crowd celebrated loudly. After the match, South African captain Smith said it was the first time he had ever had to shout to his players to be heard while in a huddle.
Tendulkar's fifty followed off just 33 balls, with five fours and a six.
When drinks were served after 14 overs, India were on an extraordinary 119 without loss.
The breakthrough for South Africa finally came when Sehwag tried to give himself space and, cramped, got a thin edge onto his stumps off a delivery from part-time leg-spinner Faf dun Plessis. He was out for 73 off 66 deliveries, with 12 fours, and the Indian total on 142 in the 18th over.
Some relief
Sehwag's departure brought Gautam Gambhir to the wicket. There was some relief for the Proteas as the run rate slowed a little, but Gambhir and Tendulkar set about building another big partnership. They put on 50 in 60 balls and India reached 200 in the 31st over.
Tendulkar then brought up his 99th century in international cricket off just 92 balls, with seven fours and three sixes. Gambhir's fifty followed, off 59 deliveries, with four fours.
Together, the pair reached their 100 partnership off 115 balls and India went on to 250 runs in the 38th over.
Tendulkar was finally out with the total on 267, caught at point by JP Duminy off of the bowling of Morkel, after a superb knock of 111 off only 101 balls.
That brought big hitting Yusuf Pathan to the wicket and it didn't look as if matters were going to improve for South Africa, but they did.
Quick wickets
Gambhir perished with the total on 268, caught by Jacques Kallis off a slower ball sent down by Steyn for 69 off 75 deliveries. Two balls later, Pathan was out for a two-ball duck, caught at cover by captain Smith off the bowling of Steyn.
Yuvraj Singh joined Indian skipper MS Dhoni at the crease. Yuvraj, another big-hitter, didn't last long and was caught by Johan Botha off the bowling of Kallis for 12.
Virat Kohli lasted only three balls before he was caught and bowled by Robin Peterson.
India's seventh wicket went down with the total on 293 when Steyn cleaned up Harbhajan Singh for three with an in-swinging yorker.
Zaheer Khan followed a run later, dismissed for a duck, caught by Morkel off Peterson.
With the total on 296, Steyn had Ashish Nehra caugth by Smith for a duck and then clean bowled Munaf Patel first ball to end the Indian innings on 296.
Remarkable turnaround
It was a remarkable turnaround. India had lost their last nine wickets for the addition of only 29 runs. Early on in their innings a total of close to 400 had seemed likely. Instead, following the collapse, they had failed to reach 300.
Steyn finished with 5 for 50 in 9.4 overs, while Peterson weighed in with a haul of 2 for 52 in nine overs.
A game that had appeared to be running away from the Proteas now appeared winnable, although it would take an excellent performance on a deteriorating pitch that would ask more of the South African batsmen than it did of the Indian batsmen.
The South African reply started well, if not with the fireworks that the Indians had displayed at the start of their innings.
First man out
Smith, who has seemed slightly off his best throughout the World Cup, was the first man out with South Africa's total on 41. He drove hard at a delivery from Zaheer Khan, but failed to get the necessary height to clear Sachin Tendulkar at extra cover and was caught for 16 off 29 balls.
Smith's departure brought Jacques Kallis to the crease. Kallis hadn't yet fired with the bat in the World Cup, but on this day a good innings was needed and he responded like the star that he is.
Playing within themselves, Hashim Amla and Kallis kept the scoreboard ticking along and brought up the 100 in the 23rd over. It had taken almost exactly double the number of overs India required but, importantly, only one wicket had fallen.
Partnership broken
After putting on 86 runs, Amla was dismissed, caught behind by Dhoni off the bowling of Harbhajan, trying to cut a ball that bounced appreciably. His contribution was 61 off 72 balls, with five fours.
The Proteas needed to acceletate their scoring rate and in the new man in, AB de Villiers, they had the ideal batsman to make it happen.
With innovative strokeplay and assured execution, he took the attack to the Indian bowlers. Unfortunately for De Villiers, he lost Kallis to a run out with the total on 173 after Kallis had made 69 off 88 balls.
JP Duminy joined De Villiers and they added exactly 50 before De Villiers departed for a superb 52 off only 39 balls, with six fours and one six. De Villiers was out halfway through the 41st over with the total on 223, leaving South Africa needing another 74 runs for victory.
In came Faf du Plessis and he and Duminy put on 15 before Duminy departed for a useful 23 off 20 balls.
Next in was Morne van Wyk. He lasted only five balls before being given out LBW to Munaf Patel for five while trying to manufacture a reverse sweep.
50 needed off six overs
Johan Botha walked out to the middle with South Africa on 247 after 44 overs, still needing 50 runs off six overs for victory.
The off-spinner proceeded to play some big shots, including a sweetly struck four, then a six off Munaf Patel before being caught the very next ball chasing another boundary. With 23 runs off only 15 balls, he had made an important contribution. Botha departed with the total on 279, leaving Du Plessis and Robin Peterson requiring 17 runs off 13 balls.
Bowling the penultimate over, Zaheer Khan produced a fine string of yorkers to yield only four singles and put the pressure firmly back on the Proteas. South Africa was left on 284 for 7, still 13 runs shy of the victory target with six balls remaining.
Indian captain Dhoni elected to hand the ball to Ashish Nehra to bowl the final over.
'Cometh the hour, cometh the man'
Way back in 1948, one of the most famous of sports' sayings was recorded in the first test between England and South Africa in Durban when England number 10 Cliff Gladwin made his way to the wicket, saying "cometh the hour, cometh the man". He went on to help England to a two-wicket victory.
In Nagpur, "the man" turned out to be Robin Peterson. Going for a big shot, he found an inside edge and sent Nehra's first delivery to the boundary behind the wicketkeeper. The next ball was struck beautifully, high and far over the boundary for six that had the South African team leaping out of their seats and sharing high-fives.
Suddenly, after the two boundaries, all the pressure was on India. Nehra fired in a yorker, but Peterson dug it out and sprinted for two runs, just beating the throw. That brought the scores level.
Victory
With all the fielders in, Peterson hammered the next delivery through the covers for four and the South Africa change room exploded in wild celebrations of what had been at one time a very unlikely victory. They then charged onto the field to celebrate the win with the two men out in the middle.
Peterson finished unbeaten on 18 off seven balls, while Du Plessis was 25 not out off of 23.
India, one of the hosts of the event, had lost their unbeaten record and South Africa's confidence had been boosted by an impressive win over one of the tournament favourites.
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