Singh is King! Harbhajan spins India to a victory and ensures India remain number 1.
Day 5 went down to the wire. You could not have written a more dramatic script, and India probably deserved their victory as they were the better side. It was left to Hashim Amla to try and carry South Africa through to an unlikely draw, and he was well supported by Wayne Parnell, Paul Harris and Morne Morkel.
Starting day 5 at 115/3, much and needing to survive 98 overs, it was not an impossible task for South Africa.
Hashim Amla was a rock at one end, but he never received enough support from his teammates. Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy were massively disappointing, and didn’t last long, and they left too much to the tail and Amla to try and salvage the draw.
Harbhajan Singh has been poor in recent times, but he saves his best for Eden Gardens and the big moments. The rest of the Indian attack never really looked likely, but Singh did not disappoint. He bowled a probing line, especially testing on the left handers.
Spare a thought for Amla who deserved to lead his side to a draw. He scored 3 centuries in 3 innings and was out once. 253 not out at Nagpur, 114 in the first innings here, and an unbeaten 123 in the second innings for a series aggregate and average of 490! Well done Hash, and you have ensured you are now truly a batting superstar.
Man of the match: Hashim Amla
Man of the series: Hashim Amla
Interestingly at the most match interviews to hear Dhoni say there was not much he could do. Tendulkar said it was just a matter of getting the ball in the right areas and waiting for the wickets to fall. they didn’t need to panic as it only required 1 delivery to get the crucial wicket(s).
Graeme Smith seemed reasonable happy but we mustn’t forget South Africa were totally outplayed here and lost by over an innings. Other than Hashim Amla; and Petersen in the first innings, no one else played significant innings. The bowlers were pathetic, and this was a poor loss considering the hard work put in at Nagpur.
Disappointing South Africa seemed not to have learnt the lessons from the last tour, and there are some worrying form issues in the Proteas batting lineup, and other than Dale Steyn, where are the wickets going to come from.
Thankfully we play India at the end of the year in South Africa, where I think we’ll beat them easily enough on wickets that will have pace and bounce, but there is a lot of important cricket that needs to be played on the sub-continent (including the next World Cup), and we’ve got to get better.
Before that we have 3 one-dayers to contend with, and will give us an indication of where our one day game stands looking forward to the World Cup.
