JOIN USIndia took to douse S African fire
The iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground can mean different thing to different people. The gigantic structure, which can house about 100,000 spectators, can either be intimidating or overwhelming irrespective of whether it’s filled to its capacity or not.
Sunday’s match between India and South Africa is expected to draw up to 80,000 spectators and needless to say almost 80 percent, on a conservative estimation, of them will be Indian fans.
It’s like a ‘home’ game for India who enjoyed similar support at the Adelaide Oval against Pakistan. While the crowd support can play a part in the overall outcome, India do understand they have to be on top of their game to beat the Proteas, who, as always, are working as a well-oiled machine.
It’s a mere coincidence that India are up against two of their World Cup streaks in their first two games itself. While they increased their winning run over Pakistan to 6-0 in the tournament with a 76-run drubbing of their neighbours in Adelaide last Sunday, they will have the tough task of ending a three-match losing sequence to South Africa.
India heralded the domination of Pakistan with the 1992 World Cup when the two sides met for the first time in the quadrennial event while South Africa, too, registered the first of their three wins against India in the same tournament.
From making it 6-0, India’s focus has now shifted to making it 3-1 but the odds are heavily stacked up against MS Dhoni and company. On paper, the South African side is slightly stronger when it comes to batting, bowling is way better while fielding is a touch superior.
The last time the two sides clashed, in a bilateral engagement, South Africa won the three-match series 2-0 with only the rain sparing India of another defeat. The South African pace attack, led by Dale Steyn, had the Indian batsmen in all sorts of trouble on spicy wickets.
Steyn’s duel with Rohit Sharma, who was coming into the series against South Africa on the back of his maiden ODI double hundred against Australia in the November of 2013, became somewhat legendary when the Indian batsman was beaten by the ace pace for close to four overs in a single match at Centurion. Rohit was clueless against the fast-swinging deliveries of Steyn.
The conditions here on Sunday will be a lot less hostile, which explains South Africa’s decision to retain leg-spinner Imran Tahir in the playing 11, but even on this slow surface the three-pronged pace attack of Steyn-Morne Morkel-Vernon Philander can be more than handful especially under lights. Much of India’s batting fortunes will depend upon how openers Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan tackle the new ball.
Rohit returns to a venue where he scored a century on his last visit here against Australia in the tri-series while Dhawan, after a long time, batted with his customary freedom for a half-century against Pakistan. Centurion in the previous match, Virat Kohli will once again be the key.
His performance will dictate how Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane are going to bat. Raina showed against Pakistan as to what he can do when he has the licence to go on the offensive without worrying about anchoring the innings. Dhoni is due for a big one and this is a good occasion for the Indian skipper to remind everyone of his destrcutive ability.
No one can destroy the bowling attacks like the way AB de Villiers does though. The holder of the record for the fastest ODI ton, the South African skipper poses the biggest threat to Indian bowlers but South Africa are anything but a one-man batting army.
David Miller and JP Duminy struck a century each to push South Africa to 339 after being down 4/83 against Zimbabwe in their opener. Hashim Amla’s penchant to score against India is well-documented while Quinton de Kock scored a record three tons in as many matches against India when the two sides played each other last. Then there is Francois du Plessis, the man for all seasons and situations.
It will be tempting to bill the match as the South African bowling versus the Indian batting, but in a high-stake game like this there are going to be many more sub-plots in store what with clear skies predicted for Sunday.
Key facts
March 15, 1992 at Adelaide
SA won by 6 wickets
India: 180/6 in 30 overs
(Mohammad Azharuddin 79, Kapil Dev 42,
Allan Donald 2-34, Adrian Kuiper 2-28)
South Africa: 181/4 in 29.1 overs
(Peter Kirsten 84, Andrew Hudson 53)
May 15, 1999 at Hove
SA won by 4 wickets
India: 253/5 in 50 overs
(Sourav Ganguly 97, Rahul Dravid 54,
Lance Klusener 3-66)
South Africa: 254/6 in 47.2 overs
(Jacques Kallis 96, Jonty Rhodes 39,
J Srinath 2-69)
March 12, 2011 at Nagpur
SA won by 3 wickets
India: 296 all out in
48.4 overs
(Sachin Tendulkar 111, Gautam
Gambhir 69;
Dale Steyn 5-50)
South Africa: 300/7
in 49.4 overs
(Hashim Amla 61, Jacques Kallis 69, AB de Villiers 52; Harbhajan Singh 3-53)