India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that his side was "completely outplayed" by South Africa in the first cricket one-dayer in Durban on Wednesday. Chasing 290 for victory, India suffered a top-order collapse and slumped to a humiliating 135-run defeat at the hands of a clinical South
It was surprising to see India put on such a poor show in the first one-dayer against South Africa of its on-going tour. Surprising, because coming off a closely-fought Test series where the batting exuded true grit and an all-round show of brilliance in the Jan 9th Twenty20, India seemed set to romp home in the opening one-dayer.
Chasing 290 for victory, India were never in the hunt after they lost their first four batsmen for just 43 runs and were ultimately bundled out for 154 in 35.4 overs.
Virat Kohli top-scored for India with a well-made 54 off 70 balls and together with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (25 off 35), added 52 runs for the fifth wicket to take India past the 150-mark.
Apart from Kohli and Dhoni, Suresh Raina was the other notable player for India with 32 off 36 balls.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe was the pick of the South African bowlers with figures of four for 31 while pace partners Dale Steyn (2/29) and Morne Morkel (2/12) scalped two wickets apiece.
Earlier, AB de Villers and JP Duminy notched up contrasting half centuries to propel South Africa to a challenging 289 for nine.
South Africa were looking good for a few more, but four wickets for just 56 runs in the last 10 overs somewhat foiled their plans.
Duminy (73 off 89) and de Villiers (76 off 69) scored at will, picking the gaps and finding the boundaries with consummate ease, after Hashim Amla (50 off 36) gave the hosts a flying start with an aggressive half-century at the Sahara Stadium in Kingsmead.
The batting looked very tentative and defensive form the get-go. Rohit Sharma might have been a tad unlucky to be given out caught behind when his bat brushing the pad was mistaken for ball knicking bat. But Yuvraj's shabby poke at an off-stump ball to give catching practice to second slip was simpy unforgivable, espeially given the man's prowess and experience as well as the delicate situation that India were faced with at that juncture in the match.
(Lonwabo) Tsotsobe did well with the ball. "Morne (Morkel) also bowled a terrific opening spell. If he continues to bowl like this he will become a difficult customer to face in ODIs," he said. Man-of-the-match Tsotsobe, who picked up four wickets for 31 runs, including the prized one of Sachin Tendulkar, said Kingsmead has always been his happy hunting ground. "This is my favourite ground. I have always done well here. I was bit unlucky in Tests but I said to myself that I won't give up," he said. "I was just trying to hit the length and the deck today," Tsotsobe added.
Virat Kohli's defiant 54 off 70 balls was the only bright spot in India's innings and his knock only drove home the point that a better performance from his fellow-batsmen was indeed possible. Raina and Dhoni pitched in with a couple of decent knocks, but it was hardly enough to extricate India from the predicament of collapse that it had fallen victim to, yet again.
Anyway, the optimistic fan would say it's early days yet in the series and India will bounce back as they did in the tests. Let's indeed hope so.
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