India play their second game of the third edition of the ICC World T20 cricket tournament against South Africa at Gros Islet in St. Lucia. It is a Group C encounter. India had beaten Afghanistan earlier in the first game they played.
You can watch the highlights of the India-South Africa cricket match at the ICC World T20 at the end of the game here.
Venue:
Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St. Lucia
Match starts at 1330 hours GMT or 7 pm IST tonight
Toss:
Graeme Smith of South Africa won the toss and decided to field first. The reasons were the same as India’s reasons for choosing the same in the game against Afghanistan, ball should swing around in the first half. MS Dhoni made two changes to the side, one forced – Gautam Gambhir going out due to injury and Dinesh Karthik coming in – and the other one, a rather strange, Zaheer Khan rested for Piyush Chawla.
Teams:
India
M Vijay, KD Karthik, SK Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, YK Pathan, RA Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, PP Chawla, P Kumar, A Nehra
South Africa
GC Smith, LL Bosman, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, MV Boucher, JA Morkel, RE van der Merwe, RK Kleinveldt, DW Steyn, M Morkel
Result:
India 186/5 in 20 overs (Raina 101) beat South Africa 172/5 in the 20 overs (Jacques Kallis 73)
India won by 14 runs.
What went wrong?
Too many quick bowlers in the South African line-up for my comfort; that caused a lot of oneness in the attack. Then again, Kallis could have batted a tad faster
What went right?
It was the third wicket stand for India between Raina and Yuvraj Singh that changed things around. 32/2 in the sixth over, was never going to be a recipe for a 180 plus total!
Turning Point:
Raina was missed twice; once caught by the mid-off off a no-ball and another was the missed run-out chance. And like in the final of the IPL, he made the opposition pay!
Is that Cricket?
Some may call it a massacre, but to me, that was certainly a cricket knock to look out for. Yes, that is most certainly one of best cricket innings in the history of T20Is. Raina became the third ever centurion in the history of the format, but it was a delectable knock, started off rather slowly, but gathered momentum on its way. To know more about the Suresh Raina century, click here.
Lol!
It was the very first over and both the batsmen found themselves at the same end of the pitch, but the fielder who ought to have had the ball in his hand, did not, and Murali Vijay survived. Only to get out the next ball.
Wow!
MS Dhoni is a different captain and his way of thinking is quite different from most of us mere mortals. So, here is the a South African side, which goes into the game with five – yes, five – pace bowling options, there is Dhoni, who gives his best pace bowler in a long time, Zaheer Khan, a rest and gets in a third frontline spinner, leaving India with only two pace bowlers.
No, but wait. That is not the wow moment. That, I guess belongs to the toss.
Shastri: What would you have done had you won the toss? Dhoni: Fielded first of course.
What? With two medium pacer on a track that was swinging around?
Man of the Match:
Couldn’t be anyone but Suresh Raina.
You can watch the India-South Africa match in ICC World T20, 2010 live on Star Cricket.
You can also watch the India-South Africa match online on ESPNStar.com
You can watch the highlights of the India-South Africa match when it gets updated here.
You can also watch the highlights of the India-Afghanistan game here.
