da betsul： The semi-final between South Africa and India re-affirmed theglorious uncertainty of one-day cricket yet again
Erapalli Prasanna27-Sep-2002The semi-final between South Africa and India re-affirmed theglorious uncertainty of one-day cricket yet again. It was athoroughly incompetent batting display from the South Africans inthe end overs that helped India recover and win a game which atone point seemed to have slipped out of their grasp.
© CricInfoThe turning point of the game came when Herschelle Gibbs wasforced to retire with cramps in both hands. At that stage, Gibbsand Jacques Kallis seemed to have batted India out of the gamewith their 178-run second wicket partnership. But Gibbs’sunfortunate departure presented India with the slightest ofopportunity and all credit to them, for they seized it with bothhands. The spinners – Harbhajan Singh and later Virender Sehwag -bowled a tight line and stifled the South African batsmen whilethe fielders led by Yuvraj Singh pulled off some fine catches asIndia willed themselves back into the game.Evidently, South Africa had their chances but the lack ofimagination and daring on the part of their batsmen saw Indiatightening the screws on the opposition with every passing over.I felt that Jacques Kallis and Lance Klusener played as ifwinning the game never really mattered to them. Kallis afterhaving played himself in during the partnership with Gibbs wasideally suited to take over the role of the senior partner butstrangely he seemed reluctant to force the pace. Klusener’sinability to play slower bowlers, meanwhile, meant that therewere no breathtaking assaults from his end either as the SouthAfrican challenge met with a tame end.After this performance, I wouldn’t be surprised if Klusener isaxed on his return. South African cricket will indeed have totake some tough decisions, even if that means showing the door tosome of the established players for having let the team down.I also wonder about whether there was any communication betweenSouth African skipper Shaun Pollock and Kallis and Klusener. Thethoughts arise because it was befuddling to see a professionalside like South Africa play so poorly, and that too in the secondbiggest one-day tournament.Earlier, the Indian batting failed to take advantage of ablistering start. When Sehwag was around, flaying the SouthAfrican bowling, I had hoped that the Indians would end up with ascore in excess of 300.
© CricInfoAll credit, though, should be given to South African bowlers andtheir breathtaking fielding for restricting India to what was atbest a competitive total. India wouldn’t have got to even thatscore if Rahul Dravid and the very impressive Yuvraj Singh hadnot come up with vital knocks which ensured that India were givena fighting chance of winning the game.I am glad that the boys, then, showed the spunk required of themin the evening and qualified for the big final. With either SriLanka or Australia, both strong batting teams, destined to betheir next opponent, it is time the think-tank thought aboutstrengthening our bowling line-up. I for one would like to seeAjit Agarkar replace Kumble in the bowling line up.If that happens it would only strengthen a team that now seemscapable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the best teams inthe world. With the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif allplaying crucial roles in recent Indian wins, Sourav Ganguly’s menhave indeed grown into a formidable force in one-day cricket.The success of these youngsters has also meant that India are inthe finals despite their premier batsman Sachin Tendulkar havinga poor tournament, according to his standards. The big final,though, might be the setting that will inspire Tendulkar intogiving his best. Winning it is not going to be easy, but itsurely is not impossible and I wish the boys all the very bestbefore the all-important encounter.