The Hindu : Sport : Indians sink at Port Elizabeth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 01, 2006
ePaper

Sport

Sport

Indians sink at Port Elizabeth

S. Dinakar

Port Elizabeth: The South Africans did not play their best cricket, but swept to a series win. The host showed character, the Indians didn't.

The crowd at St. George's Park roared as Graeme Smith and his men lapped the ground after nailing the MTN ODI series. There was silence at the other end with the Indians huddled in a corner.

While the senior batsmen disappointed, the younger lot, finding the challenge daunting, lost out mentally.

South Africa leads 3-0 after the comprehensive 80-run victory in the fourth ODI. The final game will be played at Centurion on December 3.

Poor chasers

For the third successive occasion, India was bundled out on the chase inside 50 overs. The side folded up for 91 (29.1) overs at Kingmead, 168 (41.3 overs) at Newlands, and 163 (38.1 overs) at St. George's Park.

The figures don't lie. The Indian batting lacked commitment and application. There are occasions when heart can make up for technical deficiencies. But the heart appeared to stop beating once Makhaya Ntini got a delivery to whistle past Wasim Jaffer's ear on what was essentially a sluggish pitch.

The ball appeared to send shockwaves through the Indian line-up. The rest was easy for South Africa. This is precisely why numbers cannot judge the value of somebody like Ntini.

Pathan impresses

Irfan Pathan alone displayed some resistance. His 55-ball unbeaten 47 and his tidy spell earlier in the day might have saved his place in the Test squad.

Stand-in captain Sehwag dwelt on the absence of Dravid — "he is the kind who bats through the middle overs and the others can bat around him."

He added Tendulkar's early dismissal hurt the side. "When a big player fails, the rest come under pressure." He was willing to forgive the youngsters.

Sehwag is going through a dry run himself. He has also been stripped of vice-captaincy for the Test series. And his dismissal revealed he had not quite made the technical adjustments. The batsman attempted to work Ntini through square-leg but on a South African pitch, the ball was going to end up uppishly in mid-wicket.

Old trick

The South African bowlers peppered the Indians with rising deliveries from just short of a good length. After pushing the batsmen on to the backfoot, they snared them with deliveries of fuller length. This is an old trick, but the Indians fell for it.

"We showed a lot of fight. We did not give them a sniff of the target," said Smith.

Pollock's two-way movement off an unfailing off-stump line, and his control over length choked the Indians. Ntini, Nel and Kallis extracted lift. Shockingly, some of the Indian batsmen were not getting their body behind the line.

Simply put, one side showed resilience, other didn't.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport