No losers and winners in the match

At the end of the 5^th one dayer between India and South Africa yesterday, the scoreboard read South Africa win the match by 34 runs of course by the Duckworth - Lewis method and hence the series 3-2. But, the real question is did South Africa emerge victorious or did India lose the game? It was fascinating to see the South African batsmen put up a steady partnership of 97 runs for the 2^nd wicket between Hashim Amla and Morne van Wyk which was followed by a 101 run partnership between Hashim Amla and jean Paul Duminy for the 4^th wicket. South Africa were just 3 down for 231 runs on board at the end of the 42^nd over.

However, despite all these, at the end of their innings, South Africa were 9 down with just 250 on the board meaning just another 19 runs were scored from just above 3 overs losing 6 wickets at a stretch. This in turn shows the lack of discipline of the South African batsmen in the death overs and that too when they were batting on their home pitch. If not for Hashim Amla, Jean Paul Duminy and van Wyk, no other batsman's score was worth any praise. The trio amassed a total of 218 runs with extras contributing 11 runs out of the 250 runs they could manage.

Rain, temporary abandonment of the game in addition to the introduction of the Duckworth - Lewis method should not be the reason for their debacle for even in the previous games as well, South Africa's performance with the bat was not anything different from what it was yesterday. The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni bought in 8 of his eleven men to bowl at the Proteas and the scoreboard suggests that runs have been scored from the overs bowled by Suresh Raina, Rohith Sharma, Munaf Patel and Yuvraj Singh, with Munaf Patel being the only noted bowler among the lot.

Though Munaf gave away an expensive 6.42 runs an over, he was successful in scalping 3 wickets which included the price wicket of J P Duminy. And coming to India's point, there was no need for Yousuf Pathan to go for that shot when the required run rate was well below 6 an over and no more batsmen to make up for the loss. India did well to recover from 119/8 at the end of the 23^rd over to 234 all out in the 40^th over. A 68 ball 100 in such a situation is much praise worthy compared to the slow and steady 116 by Hashim Amla.

It was fascinating to see Zaheer's 24 run and a 100 run 9^th wicket partnership with Yousuf Pathan when even noted batsmen like Raina, Rohith Sharma and Yuvraj failed. At the end, winners had a lot of flaws in them while losers took home the real spirit. And, just before the world cup players need to Work At Home.

Crap the South Africans!

One can imagine the fate of a team which can hardly chase a mere target of less than two hundred runs or defend a total in excess of 300 on its home soil. Though the latter has not been the case yet with the South Africans but, the former did happen yesterday. One need not be told specially that India managed only 190 runs on the board and South Africa required just under four runs an over to end up on the winning side. And, when this task seemed tough for the hosts, their caliber in international cricket definitely needs a rethinking.

Were South Africans really the team that chased down a total of 434 against the then strongest team - Australia, who went on to win their third world cup in a row and four overall? In the initial stages of their unsuccessful run chase, South Africa showed good signs of making it a 2-0 lead which though didn't happen were not even on the cards. South Africa did maintain the required run rate of above 4 runs an over but, failed to play the complete 50 overs which would have otherwise seen them taking a 2-0 lead in the bilateral series.

Being an Indian, I would love to see my country win any match against any opposition. But, as a cricket fan, a decent and tough cricket fight is something that takes precedence. South Africa couldn't even manage what the Indians could when they lost all their ten wickets playing just above 43 overs compared to the 47 overs that India played. This once again reminds all of us the semi final match against Australia in the 1999 world cup where South Africans could not manage to chase 214 runs despite emerging as favorites throughout the tournament even higher than Australia.

This time, the situation was even more worse that, they could not even manage a tie as in the match against Australia. This time, the Proteas were playing on their home soil unlike then when they were playing in England. If the bowlers had an upperhand in the match throughout, were the bowlers as tight that they could not even let the hosts chase down a total less than two hundred? And, the bowlers involved were not Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne but some stupid Munaf Patel who is found wearing the blue uniform once in a calender year. Of course, Australia were once bowled out for 98 recently against England on their home soil and this isn't a great issue.