The Hindu : Sport : Sharma, Dhoni to India’s rescue

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Friday, Sep 21, 2007
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Sport

Sharma, Dhoni to India’s rescue

Nandita Sridhar

Shuan Pollock stings top order with his accurate bowling

Tantalisingly poised
South Africa was 83 for five after 14 overs. Albie Morkel and Mark Boucher had strung together a 50-run partnership

Durban: Indian captain M.S. Dhoni edged his first delivery inauspiciously towards third man. Rohit Sharma was a near non-entity for his first couple of overs. Somehow, both prospered in each other’s company and dragged India to a score of some respectability in the super-eight match against South Africa on Thursday. This, after Shaun Pollock stung the top-order with his stinginess, and set things up for the other bowlers.

The South African bowling tightened as the innings progressed and Dhoni and Sharma had to resort to unorthodoxy. Dhoni ended a brief barren period with a full-circle swish that went for four over the keeper’s head. The captain had been unusually sedate throughout the tournament and needed something to break the shackles.

Bizarre period

In a bizarre period of play, Dhoni’s awkward shots miraculously found the most unusual of gaps, with the ones hit with intent finding the fielders. Sharma dumped elegance and went for clarity, maximising his efforts over mid-wicket .The sixes trickled in after the 16th over. van der Wath and Morkel weren’t so frugal towards the end, and runs came in at a quicker rate.

Dhoni’s run-out was effected in the last over, after Mark Boucher dropped an edge but Philander found the stumps, leaving the captain short of the crease. A huge six over mid-wicket took Sharma to his fifty and India past 150.

Prior to the partnership, India was in trouble upfront. The openers took a couple of overs to get going. Gautam Gambhir briefly deployed stealth and strength for his runs, sneaking one fine and pounding one through point for four.

Like on Wednesday, he suffered from too much ambition, and miscued a heave to find Graeme Smith at mid-off. Deservedly, Shaun Pollock had got his man.

Dinesh Karthik, who had come in place of Yuvraj Singh (tendonitis in his left elbow) put his wrists through a great deal to find Albie Morkel at square-leg, making it two for Pollock.

Virender Sehwag showed promise, but was glued to the crease while caressing one outside off, with Boucher taking the catch. It was Makhaya Ntini’s first and only wicket.

Catch dropped

Robin Uthappa took a while before ravenously gorging on a short one from Johan van der Wath for the first six of the innings.

He was extremely lucky that Vernon Philander spilled one at mid-on off van der Wath, but found the more reliable Smith at mid-off later on, to the benefit of Morne Morkel

Nearly 20,000 people had turned up for the match. The stadium was packed, with Indian flags outnumbering South African.

The only giveaway that the match was in South Africa, was the wicket.

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