South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

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South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

South Africa has won the toss and decided to bat first

The Indian team is carrying the clouds with them as we see a cloudy evening at the Wanderers. The adrenaline is high and we are all eagerly waiting for the game to begin...

After so many apprehensions and so many days, finally the Indian team is set to take the field in a Twenty20 International. People always had wanted to see the Dhonis, Sehwags, Sachins and Pathans in this exciting format but taking into consideration the current form of the Indian team, I wonder whether the interest is still alive!!!

We can expect a few major changes in the Indian eleven tomorrow, with people like Jaffer and Kaif perhaps facing the axe to give room to somebody like Mongia, who perhaps has the maximum experience as far as T20 matches are concerned. He bats with a Strike Rate of 114 and has an Economy rate of just over 6 with the ball.

Even the South Africans haven't done well in this format. Their win record of 1 out of 3 is not impressive. They however, bat with a run-rate of 7.72 but at the same time they conceed runs at 9.34. But they also have people like Kemp and Gibbs each of whom is a one man destruction unit and as far as the bowling goes, the accuracy of Langeveldt, the aggression of Morkel and the 'X' factor of Telemachus can kill any side on any given day.


South Africa: Graeme Smith (c), Loots Bosman, AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Tyron Henderson, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Robin Peterson, Ashwell Prince, Johan van der Wath, Roger Telemachus

India: Virender Sehwag (c), Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (w), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Dinesh Mongia, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Mohammad Kaif, Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Loots Bosman, AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Tyron Henderson, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Robin Peterson, Roger Telemachus, Johan van der Wath

India: Virender Sehwag (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Mongia, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan.


South Africa won the toss and chose to bat.
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

It was one of the lower scoring innings we've seen in a Twenty20, thinks to a difficult batting surface and a lot of rain!

South Africa only managed 126-9 from thier 20 overs. Not a single one of their batsmen could stick around for very long. Morkel was the top scorer with 27.

For India, Zaheer Khan took 2/15 in his 4 overs. Good stuff for this length of game.

Of course, one thing to remember about the 126 is that South Africa really mixed up their team for this game, selecting a very different line-up than the one-day regulars.
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

India's batting hasn't fared much better in these conditions.

Currently, India is 98-3 after 16 overs.
They still need 29 more runs at 7.25 per over.

That might not seem like a high asking rate for a Twenty20, but in their past 5 overs, they've only managed to score more than 6 runs once.

Sehwag got them off to a good start with 34 before being run out, and Mongia is still in there on 37 right now (along with Karthik).
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

Good over from Karthik (and Mongia), they score 10.
19 needed from the last 3 overs now.


Peterson comes in and gets Mongia with his third ball of the day!
India 111-4 after 18 overs.
Peterson only allowed 3 runs that over and took a wicket! Excellent stuff!

India need 16 from 2 overs.
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

Karthik hits another 4, but India can only get another 3 runs from the next 5 balls from van der Wath. Good bowling to finish that over.

India need 9 runs from the last over. (or 8 to tie it)

It might be tough against Peterson again.
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

Boom, Karthik hits a six off Peterson's first ball. Only 3 more runs needed now.

Dot ball...

single...now it's Raina's turn to face Peterson, lets see how he does.

single for Raina...scores are level, Karthik has 2 chances to win this for India

Single! Karthik wins it for them, finishing 31 not out.

India finished 127-4 after 19.5 overs.
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

Karthik CRUSHED the first ball of the last over for 6, and they add 3 singles to win with one ball to spare. Too bad, I was rooting for a bowl-off!!! What a day of spectacular cricket. From the CAN-NED match, to this one, hopefully the 2nd day of the Ashes measures up.
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

That was a close one, but India will be happy that they finally got into the win column in South Africa.

India are now undefeated in Twenty20's. Though is certainly wasn't the batting display that everyone expected. They need to thank the South African selectors for giving Kallis, Ntini, and Pollock the day off.

Now it's up to India to try to convert this into a positive showing in the final ODI of the series. Perhaps the South African selectors will help them out and rest some players again, since they've already got the series wrapped up.
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

Why is this match being called a Pro20, instead of a Twenty20 International (or T20I for short)? I was confused at first because I haven't heard anything about an official name change.
 
Re: South Africa v India, Pro20, Johannesburg

I would've bothered replying here, if I actually thought Twenty20 was a worthy format. (Wait a second, I just did. Have I contradicted myself?)

Anyway, a win in this mickey-mouse format will only do minor confidence building for sorry India. But they shouldn't forget that they've got huge problems in a format that really matters for the World Cup - ODI. They haven't excelled in tests on South African soil in the past either, so there is a big mountain to climb.
 
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