South Africa v India
Friday, October 19, 2001

The weather conditions aided them, but the target of 282 always seemed too much for India's batsmen. The pitch quickened up and the ball came easily onto the bat, while the light showers in the lunch interval made the outfield slippery and the ball wet and difficult to grip.

The Indian openers made the most of these conditions and got off to a rollicking start. Ganguly's innings was a treat to watch, and it has been interesting to watch him dominate the partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar meanwhile looked more like the player we are all used to seeing. A noticeable aspect of his innings today was his wonderful back-foot drives, when he stands up tall on his toes. These shots had been conspicuously absent in his earlier knocks, and raised doubts about his recovery from the toe injury. Even though he scored only 37, it was a reassuring innings.

His wicket, and then Ganguly's rare dismissal to a left-arm spinner, pegged India back and it was tough for the lower-order batsmen to maintain the tempo. Ganguly though didn't look too disappointed -- with Kenya as the third team, India are almost assured a place in the final.

The middle order was disappointing. Dravid held his end up, but his inability to score quickly meant that the onus was always on the other batsmen. Sehwag fell in an attempt to up the tempo.

The South African new-ball bowlers were hit around, but Lance Klusener impressed with his ability to check the runs. By the time he came on, the pitch had lost its early juice and he was difficult to score off. Ntini's spell came at a difficult time when Ganguly was blazing away, but he bowled with a lot of heart and fire.

The Indian middle-order should see a few changes after this defeat. Dravid should come back to occupy the No. 3 position, while Jacob Martin's presence would add some solidity to the fireworks that Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag are expected to provide.

India's defeat means Kenya still have an outside chance of qualifying for the finals. They will be an excited lot tonight.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to S Rajesh. More Sanjay Manjrekar
SA have done enough to win

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