Indian batsmen throw it away, South Africa wins Titan Cup inaugural

Prem Panicker

Somewhere over the last four, five years, India appears to have lost the knack of chasing in the one day game.

That lost knack remained lost on the day, as India went under by 47 runs to South Africa, in a game where it looked, almost till the very end, as if all that stood between India and a win was its own highly suspect nerves.

To what, then, does one attribute this?

A new, inexperienced team? Constant changes in the lineup, so that no batsman has really managed to settle into a role he knows is his for a period of time? More frequent changes in coach, with the result that the think tank does not have any continuity of thought and action? All of the above? Or none?

Search me - I'd rather try and solve the riddle of the Sphinx, than the one of why India, with a wealth of talent, continues to make a meal of things out there time after frustrating time.

But enough of the philosophising, here's the action, as it happened...

Till date, the highest score we have had at the Lal Bahadur Stadium at Hyderabad is England's 243 for 3 in 47.3 overs, when it beat Australia by seven wickets in October 1989.

This time round, though, the groundsman had gone against tradition and prepared an even paced wicket on which batsmen were bound to revel. The wicket was hard enough to provide bounce, but there was nothing in there for the spinner and if a batsman could decide on whether to go front foot or back fast enough, then batting was going to be easy as pie.

And just to help the good work along, the cyclone that had been threatening for all of yesterday decided to give the city a go by, and the day rolled out nice and sunny and warm, just right for a cracking good game.

One of the most interesting phenomena in one day cricket of late has been the way the S'African pair of Andrew Hudson and Gary Kirsten, probably the dullest in the business when they first entered international cricket, have developed into one of the steadiest, and most free-scoring, in the game.

And they lived up to that reputation again today, with Hudson and Kirsten going at a cracking rate, keeing the scoring rate at just under the five an over mark and getting the tourists off to a good start before Hudson, the more vulnerable of the two, was beaten by a slower one from Prasad into scooping a checked drive down Azharuddin's throat at midwicket. SA 73/1 with the opener gone for 34 off 51 balls with four fours and a lofted straight six off Sunil Joshi.

It was not that the Indian bowlers bowled badly, or that runs were given away in the field. Far from it. Right from the beginning, the bowlers were on length and line, they bowled to their field and the fielders, in turn, if not as spectacular as that of the South Africans, was definitely clean, competent, and on par with international standards.

With the first wicket falling in the 14th over, a pinch hitter made no sense, really. The role of such a batsman is to go over the top during the period where field restrictions were in place. Symcox's entry with just over two overs to go before the field was spread out - and Kumble exploited the error by bowling a full length, cramping Symcox and not letting him swing his arms, and finally yorking the burly batsman for just 3 off 12 balls, to reduce SA to 85 for two.

Kirsten was going good all along, at the other end, and Cullinan joined him to get quick singles, play the occasional drives through either side and keep the score moving along. There seemed no reason, really, for the batsman to suddenly lose it and go for a slog off Joshi but in the event, that is what Cullinan - who till that point, had looked in immaculate tough - did, to give Prasad the resulting catch and reduce the tourists to 128/3.

Jonty Rhodes came in, ran a few lightning fast singles to underline his rep as a man in a hurry, then hurried into a drive off a slower one from Jadeja to give the bowler a caught and bowled, and SA were 145/4 and not looking too good.

The tourists looked even less comfortable when, just 13 runs later, Kirsten who had looked sure for yet another century, lost his cool and went for an ugly hoik at Kumble - the last bowler in the world you want to play across the line at. Up went the ball to midwicket and Azhar doesn't miss those. Kirsten was gone for 84 off 81 with nine fours and a six and on his tombstone, for this innings, will be written, "Here rests a man who died by his own hand!" SA 158/5 and, shortly thereafter, 166/6 when Derek Crookes played all over an attempted drive at Kumble to find his off stump out of kilter.

Captain Cronje looked distinctly ill at ease against Kumble and Joshi, McMillan kept trying to hit out and failing, but the two batsmen took a deep breath apiece, got their act together just in time and began moving along with singles, twos and the odd crashing shot off the straying ball for the fours. And suddenly, the run rate picked up again and by the time McMillan was out, going for a needless run after a ball from Prasad hit him on the body and being stranded when the Indian bowler raced down, picked up the ball, turned and threw the non-strikers' stumps down, SA had got to 242/7 and with Dave Richardson helping Cronje add a valuable 17 runs off the last 2.4 overs, SA had set the home team 262 to get in 50 overs.

For the fielding side, Kumble as usual was outstanding with the ball, while Prasad, Srinath and the 'fifth bowler' duo of Tendulkar and Jadeja did their bit by not giving away too many loose deliveries.

The fielders, too, got up to the job and with a series of diving stops, smart running along the ropes in the outfield and frenetic diving up close, ensured that the pressure never flagged.

Scoreboard:

South Africa                                                    R   B   4  6
AC Hudson             c Azharuddin       b Prasad              34  51   4  1
G Kirsten             c Azharuddin       b Kumble              84  81   9  1
PL Symcox                                b Kumble               3  12   0  0
DJ Cullinan           c Prasad           b Joshi               16  24   1  0
JN Rhodes                            c & b Jadeja              10  12   0  0
WJ Cronje             not out                                  63  75   6  0
DN Crookes                               b Kumble               2   8   0  0
BM McMillan           run out (Prasad)                         32  34   4  0
DJ Richardson        not out                                   9   6   1  0
Extras                (lb 4, w 2, nb 2)                         8
Total                 (7 wickets, 50 overs)                   261



Fall of Wicket: 1-73 (Hudson), 2-85 (Symcox), 3-128 (Cullinan),
     4-145 (Rhodes), 5-158 (Kirsten), 6-166 (Crookes),
     7-242 (McMillan).

Bowling                      O      M      R      W
Srinath                      9      1     45      0 
Prasad                      10      0     43      1
Joshi                       10      0     64      1
Kumble                      10      0     42      3
Tendulkar                    5      0     28      0
Jadeja                       6      0     33      1

Sujith Somasundar, capped for this game after a good century in the Challenger Trophy domestic tournament recently, came out to open with Sachin Tendulkar.

It is debatable what would have happened had the Indian skipper hung around there for a bit and guided the young man through the initial testing spell from De Villiers and Brian McMillan. But in the event, Tendulkar played two sweet drives, one on the off and the other off his pads through midwicket, then flicked at De Villiers and Cullinan, placed at short midwicket for just that shot, brought off a comfortable catch to give the fielding side cause to celebrate. Tendulkar had got 11 off just 8 balls and again, departed just when he looked in very good nick - giving rise to the feeling that perhaps it is time he batted himself down the order a bit, at least till he worked his way through this bad patch.

Another reason for Sachin to bat down the order was to become apparent a bit later. But meanwhile, Somasundar seemed a bundle of nerves after the departure of his captain, his strokeplaying reputation seemingly forgotten as he scratched around for some 31 deliveries against tight, but by no means unplayable, bowling before ambling over for a run and failing to beat Cullinan's throw from mid wicket. India were quickly down to 29/2.

That brought Dravid and Azhar together. And while the former, in his usual fashion, looked the picture of assurance, Azhar produced some of the sweetest wrist play seen for a long time. Cronje kept moving his fielders around on the leg side, and Azhar kept finding new gaps to spear the ball through, picking up the line from anywhere, even outside off stump, to pierce the leg field.

32 runs off 55 balls, and Azhar was just beginning to look in very good touch indeed when, for some reason only Azhar himself could see, he decided to go for the slog. In the event, he only went as far as wide mid on, off the unimpressive off spin of Derek Crookes, and Cullinan had no problems pouching that to reduce India to 97/3.

Even then, it was far from panic stations. If India concentrated on the singles, it was still in a position to mount a late order slog with wickets in hand. And Ganguly and Dravid seemed to be playing to that plan, the latter looking especially impressive as he raced through to another fifty. But with his personal contribution on 62 off 87 balls with six fours and seemingly set to play a memorable innings, Dravid became the next victim of panic, holing out to Jonty Rhodes while trying to hit Crookes out of the ground.

India were 144/4 at that stage, and 171/5 when Ganguly, who after an uncertain start got his eye in and had started opening out to score 31 off 42, decided that what was good for Azhar and Dravid was good for him too. Off he went after Donald of all people, and Symcox dusted his hands off after an easy catch off the slower ball from the quick bowler, and another Indian batsman had wasted it for no reason anyone could see.

In between, there was a bit of an incident when Ganguly set off for a quick run, de Villiers ran into him and bowled him over, Ganguly scrambled back to his feet and tried to complete the run and found the stumps disturbed. The appeal was legit in so far as de Villiers didn't deliberately run into the batsman - but hardly sporting. And just when the umpires had given Ganguly out and the batsman hung around in a form of protest, Cronje thought over the situation and withdrew the appeal. A sporting gesture, and warmly applauded by the crowd.

After Ganguly's exit, it was more of the same, really. When Mongia and Jadeja were together in the 38th over, India was just about 20 runs behind SA, with one wicket less lost. Obviously, if the batsmen kept getting singles and the odd four, the position was still far from hopeless. But for some reason, India seemed to have decided on a policy of neck or nothing. So Mongia risked his neck with a cheeky run to Rhodes at point, and paid the price (178/6); Jadeja risked a lofted drive off a yorker from Donald and spooned one up for Cronje to hold behind the bowler's back (180/7), Joshi decided to see if Cronje was as good a fielder as he is supposed to be and found out he was, when he was run out by a couple of feet (188/8)...

But why go on?

You get the point, don't you?

On the day, South Africa missed Craig Mathews in the bowling line up. Crookes was vulnerable, Symcox after a good steady start had gone for 22 in his last three overs, Donald had gone for 25 off his first five and the fielding, spectacular as ever, was still not good enough to keep the runs from coming.

There was thus only one way India were going to lose it - and with unerring instinct, the Indian batsmen hit the self-destruct button, time after time flattering only to decieve.

And Sachin Tendulkar, at the end of it all, summed up the result in a telling sentence on camera. "Somehow, we managed to lose," the Indian captain told the television cameras.

Yeah, right. "Managed to lose" - as good a way of describing mass suicide as any...

Scoreboard:

India innings                                                   R   B   4  6
S Somasundar          run out (Cullinan)                        9  31   1  0
SR Tendulkar          c Cullinan         b de Villiers         11   8   2  0
R Dravid              c Rhodes           b Crookes             62  87   6  0
MA Azharuddin         c Cullinan         b Crookes             32  55   3  0
SC Ganguly            c Symcox           b Donald              31  42   3  1
A Jadeja              c Cronje           b Donald              15  19   1  0
NR Mongia             run out (Rhodes)                          3   4   0  0
J Srinath             not out                                  13  17   0  0
SB Joshi              run out (Cronje)                          2   5   0  0
A Kumble              c Hudson           b Donald               9   8   1  0
BKV Prasad            not out                                   0   0   0  0
Extras                (b 5, lb 15, w 3)                        23
Total                 (9 wickets, 46 overs)                   210

Fall of Wicket: 1-19 (Tendulkar), 2-29 (Somasundar), 3-97 (Azharuddin),
     4-144 (Dravid), 5-171 (Ganguly), 6-178 (Mongia),
     7-180 (Jadeja), 8-188 (Joshi), 9-206 (Kumble).

Bowling                      O      M      R      W
de Villiers                  8      0     29      1
McMillan                     8      1     30      0 
Donald                       9      0     42      3
Cronje                       2      0     11      0
Symcox                      10      0     43      0 
Crookes                      9      0     41      2