JOIN USIndia retain crown in nail-biting finish
On a gripping Thursday at the Eden Gardens, as the sun shone brightly allowing a full day’s play, India managed to win and hold on its crown with a mere nine balls to spare.
Even as the indefatigable Hashim Amla led a typically phlegmatic South African rearguard action to take his team to within a few minutes of a draw and dethroning India from its coveted position, Harbhajan struck to evict last man Morne Morkel and send nearly 20,000 fans in the stadium into a frenzy.
South Africa began the final day on 115 for three, needing to bat out 98 overs, and their cause received a fillip with the news that Indian pace spearhead Zaheer Khan would play no part in the proceedings after being sidelined with a muscle strain in his left leg. To their dismay, though, Harbhajan slipped into the lead bowler’s role with effortless ease at a venue very dear to him, picking up five for 59 as South Africa were dismissed for 290 with a minimum of nine deliveries left.
The result meant by the International Cricket Council’s season-ending cut-off date of April 1, no team can supplant India from the number one Test ranking. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, under whom India had won their last five Test series before this 1-1 draw, will receive the champions’ mace and a sum of US $175,000 for his team’s top-rung status.
On a less than responsive surface, India were made to work extremely hard by the obdurate Amla, the man of the match for his twin hundreds. The right-hander seldom put a foot wrong, so Harbhajan, and India, targeted the other end and reaped handsome dividends.
Egged on by a vociferously partisan crowd that was sporting enough to appreciate Amla’s steadfast resistance, Harbhajan was on song.
Under pressure after failing to deliver the goods in recent times, the off-spinner compensated for Zaheer’s absence with a magical display of bowling, impeccable in his control and teasing with his flight.
Unlike Amla who ploughed a lone furrow before receiving some assistance from the tail, Harbhajan had allies in leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who played the support act to perfection, and paceman Ishant Sharma, patchy at best but striking two crucial blows in the immediacy of the tea break.
Amla’s unbeaten 123 will go down as a true epic, an innings that spanned more than eight hours during which he never appeared like getting out. Harbhajan, though, was the story of the day, colourful, charismatic, controversial and combative, and primarily responsible for India stretching their exceptional home record to another series.