Agencies
Indore, Oct 14: ‘Captain Cool’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni (92 n o, 86b, 7×4, 4×6) came into the party in a big way as riding on his batting histrionics, India levelled the five-match ODI series 1-1 here Wednesday. After putting up 247 for the loss of nine wickets in 50 overs, the hosts bowled out the visitors for 225 in 43.4 overs to eke out a 22-run win in a low- scoring game at the Holkar Cricket Stadium here.
After Dhoni’s inspiring knock, for once the bowlers came to the party as Axar Patel (3/39), Harbhajan Singh (2/51) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/41) bowled well in tandem to restrict the South Africans who looked very confident of going 2-0 up at the end of the India innings. But then that was not to be.
However, ‘Captain Cool’ may have delivered with the bat, but even then, some of his decisions once more raised eyebrows. Those will not be questioned now, more so after India’s win, but the axing of Amit Mishra, who was the best Indian spinner in Kanpur, will certainly not go down with the fans. It will definitely not do wonders to the bowler’s confidence, but then who cares as long as India win. His decision of keeping Virat Kohli at No. 4 also is not doing good for the batsman’s confidence.
It was vital toss to win, as the pitch became progressively slow as the game progressed making it very difficult for strokemakers to play their shots. But then credit shouldn’t be taken away from the Indian bowlers as well as fielders who raised their levels by a few notched to help India restore parity in a series that looked like slipping away.
Kohli, may have failed again with the bat, but the catch that he took at short extra-cover to send back South African skipper AB de Villiers off Mohit Sharma was worth a 100 runs. De Villiers in the middle is always a threat whatever the situation of the game may be.
Kudos also to Patel after a forgettable T20 match at Dharamsala, where JP Duminy took him to the cleaners, hitting the left-armer for three sixes in one over. But Wednesday was another day as the spinner exacted sweet revenge, by not only dismissing Duminy, but also getting rid Hashim Amla and top scorer in the South African innings Faf du Plessis (51, 56b, 6×4).
On the other hand, Bhajji, playing an ODI after more than a gap of two years, was a little rusty to begin with, but got into his rhythm after a couple of overs. The two spinners thwarted the South African tempo in the middle overs and the visitors could never recover from that position.
Earlier, after the cheap dismissal of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, it was Ajinkya Rahane (51, 63b, 6×4) who held the innings together with some obdurate batting. But when the score was 124 for six, 247 definitely looked impossible. But then Dhoni definitely thought otherwise.
The Indian skipper started slowly, cutting out all the risks before starting to shift to a different gear from the 40th over onwards. He put on 41 runs for the seventh wicket with Bhuvneshwar before adding another 56 with Harbhajan. One straight six of Imran Tahir and another one of last-game tormentor Kagiso Rabada showed that he still has a lot to offer to Indian cricket.
Scoreboard
India innings: R Sharma b Rabada 3, S Dhawan c Duminy b Morkel 23, A Rahane b Tahir 51, V Kohli r o 12, MS Dhoni n o 92, S Raina c De Kock b Morkel 0, A Patel lbw b Steyn 13, B Kumar b Tahir 14, Harbhajan Singh c De Kock b Steyn 22, U Yadav c De Kock b Steyn 4, M Sharma n o 0 Extras: (LB- 2, W-10, NB-1)13, Total: (for nine wickets in 50 overs) 247
Fall: 1/3, 2/59, 3/82, 4/102, 5/104, 6/124, 7/165, 8/221, 9/225.
