Another easy ride for India in TVS Cup

Scorecard

Graeme Smith's baptism to international cricket as captain was dealt a cruel blow as South Africa fell to their worst defeat against India in the second encounter of the TVS Cup in Dhaka.

The 153-run win confirmed India's place in the final of the tournament, which surprisingly has no prize-money for the winners and runners-up.         

Two 22-year-olds had a point to prove in the match. Graeme Smith, leading the South African side for the first time, had to make an impression. Mohammad Kaif, struggling to middle the ball over the past few months, needed to come good and justify his place in the side.

52 overs into the game, skipper Smith was bowled for one. Kaif made 94 more runs and saw India cross the 300-run mark after skipper Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat.

The innings won Mohammad Kaif the man-of-the-match award and reaffirmed coach John Wright's faith in the youngster from Allahabad.

"Kaif is what winning is all about," the coach had said about Kaif. Today his unbeaten 95 did just that; it won the game for India.

Batting seems to come so easy for Indian batsmen these days that a wicket falling doesn't seem to matter. If 276 seemed huge against a side like Bangladesh, India went a step further and scored 307 against the South Africans.

Gautam Gambhir frittered another opportunity after getting in, when he edged Makhaya Ntini to the keeper for 18 well-made runs. Just looking good and showing promise won't cut it for Gambhir to cement his place in a squad, where tall scores are the norm. Ntini snapped his 100th one-day wicket and was the most impressive bowler for the first 20 overs of the Indian innings. 

Smith came to Bangladesh with the reputation of being an attacking and radical captain. By not bringing on Shaun Pollock to bowl until the 20th over surely looked radical but was hardly attacking.

After Sehwag was reprieved, before he had opened his account, by Peter Robinson, at square leg, he and Ganguly coasted along at six an over, scoring 83 runs in the first 15 overs. Even though runs were gushing for India, Smith continued with greenhorns C Willoughby and Alan Dawson.

What kind team strategy would plan to keep the bowling spearhead out of the attack with the opposition rattling away at six runs an over? Add to that the fact that Pollock did not bowl his full quota of 10 overs. Besides the regular net sessions and training drills, the Proteas need some urgent arithmetic classes. The South Africans are in the chronic stage of the 'miscalculation syndrome', which saw them bow out of the World Cup in the first round.

In the post-match interview, Smith explained the move to have Pollock bowl in the middle, saying it was to bottle up the runs. Reading between the proverbial lines, it means Pollock is now going to play the role of stock bowler in the side. The sooner the South African think-tank rectifies this gaffe and throws the new ball back to Pollock, the better it will be for the side.

Sehwag misread a Dawson slower delivery and holed out to Jacques Rudolph at mid-on to the disgust of Ganguly, who shook his head in disbelief at the shot-selection, to make it 89-2. Sehwag will take some time to adapt to the new challenge of pacing his innings; something he has never done in his playing career. It is important to allow him to play his game instead of seeing him get out in the 30s and 40s more out of indecision than temperament.

Kaif and Ganguly got down to playing out the middle overs and sustaining the healthy run-rate of 5. Running the singles and twos regularly, Kaif kept the scoreboard moving steadily before Ganguly danced down the wicket and gave a quick lesson to left-arm spinner Peter Robinson about bowling to sub-continental

batsmen.

Ganguly was dismissed for an 80-ball 75 and Herschelle Gibbs ran-out Yuvraj Singh; Kaif found himself at the crease with out-of-form Dinesh Mongia at 206-4.

Kaif's innings, until then, was laced more with grit than with fluency or any measure of authority. His fifty, off 81 balls, came at a strike rate of 63 runs per hundred balls; the only positive sign was that he middled 94 per cent of the deliveries he faced and missed very little.    

Mongia struggled initially but continued rotating the strike to let Kaif direct the innings. And direct he did, smashing three sixes and finishing at 95 of 103 balls. After reaching his half-century, Kaif got 40 runs in less than half the number of balls. Mongia found his long-lost form and pierced the field at will, racing away to a 38-ball half century.

An example of the Indian batting domination at the end is the statistic that India galloped from 250 to 300 off 19 deliveries. 101 runs came of the last ten overs as India set the South Africans an intimidating target of 308 for victory.

As the second youngest skipper ever to lead an international team (Waqar Younis being the youngest ever leading the Pakistan side against West Indies in 1993) Smith endured the worst possible start, inside edging a quick Ajit Agarkar delivery onto his stumps for 1.

Agarkar continued his rich vein of form with a box-fresh radar device and had Jacques Rudolph edging a sharp catch to Sehwag at first slip as South Africa found the scoreboard read 13-2.

Gibbs took guard and unleashed his stockpile of strokes before a full toss from Harbhajan Singh was tamely patted back to the spinner. In the next over, Boeta Dippenaar played a slower delivery from Ganguly straight to Yuvraj Singh at point. South Africa at 57-4 had all but lost the match and their mint-fresh confidence coming into the tournament.      

With Zaheer Khan walking off the field with a leg injury, Ganguly had to share the burden of bowling his full quota and with the variations he flummoxed the batsmen during his spell.

It is strange that India are hunting for a bowling all-rounder. Ganguly is the only captain who bowls competently and bats exceptionally in world cricket today along with Shaun Pollock and Sanath Jayasuriya, both no more in charge of their teams. It's time he counts himself as the fifth bowler in the side and continues with the seven batsmen recipe.  

With South Africa's notorious weakness against spin apparent, India dropped fast bowler Aavishkar Salvi and gave 20-year-old leg-spinner Amit Mishra his first one-day cap. In only his second over the leggie, with his orthodox serving of leg-spin, claimed his first international wicket.        

The young Haryanvi turned the ball appreciably and with unerring accuracy. Playing in his first game, Mishra bowled his leggies without trying to experiment and gave a good account of himself though Mark Boucher collared him in one over.

The South Africans lost wickets regularly even as the chase seemed futile. Only Boucher combated a lone battle with 48 of 59 balls. Six of the ten South African wickets to fall were snapped up by spinners, underlining their failing to spin bowling.