JP Duminy
This 4th ODI between Indian and South Africa in Port Elizabeth couldn’t have been more depressing.
South Africa won quite convincingly irrespective of the rain interrupting play, by the looks of the way the Indian side was crumbling it was only a matter of time before they walked out of the field with their shoulders stooped and their heads down, all except for Virat Kohli.
The difference between the South African side and the Indian side on that day was that even though 2-3 run outs and 2 stumping’s shook the very core of their middle order they still had a dependable batsman who took charge, who was JP Duminy. While the Indian side had no contribution from anyone besides Virat Kohli which is a upsetting sight.
South Africa won the toss again and elected to bat first. This toss was an important one because the course of the wind would determine how much the ball would spin and which direction was favourable.
Skipper Graeme Smith opened and made 18 runs of 30 balls but was dismissed by Ashish Nehra , Smith has played well in both the matches they lost in but thankfully for him Hashim Amla was looking penetrating even though his form has not been the best in the due course of this series.
Amla was out with hammer and tongs; he played brilliant shots and didn’t leave scope for any bowler to get him out, Amla was run out by Kohli and Dhoni which is probably the worst way to get out especially when you’re playing at your best. Amla made 64 runs of 69 balls and his dismissal was a big blow for the South African side.
Morne van Wyk made 15 runs of 22 balls was dismissed by Yuvraj Singh with help from MS Dhoni. Yuvraj struck again with AB de Villiers getting a stumping with his foot barely centimetres away from the ground. So de Villiers was sent back and he made only 3 runs of 5 balls.
Faf du Plessis had a memorable first match but he’s probably hoping he as well as everyone else forgets his second performance in the light of their victory. He made only 1 run of 4 balls; he was run out by the Dhoni Kohli combo as well.
Johan Botha and JP Duminy’s partnership was the crucial one, with so many over’s still remaining everyone was waiting for them to slip just a little, but neither did. Botha made an important contribution of 44 runs of 59 balls and again was stumped by a delivery of Yuvraj Singh’s.
Mean while Robin Peterson was brought in to replace Wayne Parnell which was a master stroke considering how expensive he was in the previous ODI and has not been contributing much to the scoreboard as well. Peterson again contributed with 31 runs of 35 balls, it was small yet effective partnerships like these that helped South Africa grab a victory at Port Elizabeth.
Lastly, JP Duminy stayed on and made 71 runs of 72 balls which was the icing on the cake, Dale Steyn made 4 runs of 6 balls so now it was time to blow out the candles.
India was left to chase 265 runs with the asking rate of 5.3 runs per over, not too high and not too low either.
Parthiv Patel was brought in to this match in place of Murli Vijay, mostly everyone will be happy with this arrangement as Vijay has been given countless opportunities which he has done nothing with. So Parthiv came as a spare wicket keeper for MS Dhoni who was facing some discomfort with his leg and also as an opening batsman fitting perfectly in Murli’s spot. He played some classy shots but fell “short” pun intended, to Lonwabo Tsotsobe on an lbw decision, Parthiv Patel made 11 runs of 24 balls.
Rohit Sharma is one that needs to be kicked on his behind and replaced before he can say “Meri batting”. He does not seem passionate or even interested in the sport and his constant arguing with an umpire every time he doesn’t like the decision is just down right stupid, yes; it was a wrong decision now moves on! Besides that, it is evident that international cricket isn’t his cup of ‘daaru’ and even Zaheer Khan opening would fetch more runs as compared to him. In this match Rohit Sharma made 1run on facing 6 deliveries, his wicket was claimed by Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Virat Kohli’s almost opening brought in a certain amount of stability to the game but nobody on the other side caused it to fall flat. Yuvraj Singh made 12 runs of 20 balls, his innings has also started appearing highly selfish, it seems as if he wants to be a hero, well if anybody talks to him, please tell him it isn’t working.
Suresh Raina, Dhoni’s sidekick arrived and proved he will never be anything more than a side kick, whether or not any Indian cricket fan will admit it, no matter how much they think a batsman has no capabilities and will fail when they walk into the crease, somewhere at the back of your mind you’re always secretly hoping they’ll prove you wrong. Such is the case with Suresh Raina. He made 20 runs of 36 balls and was dismissed by Robin Peterson.
Dhoni walked the red carpet, showed his face to his fans and advertisers and walked out, only he and his astrologer know what he’s doing, maybe he should feed milk to some homeless kittens, that might improve his batting performance , he made 2 runs of 8 balls and was dismissed by Robin Peterson.
Yusuf Pathan won the previous match for India but couldn’t do anything in the 4th ODI, it was never going to work, Virat Kohli was hitting out on the opposite side and he only needed somebody to stick around to rotate strike, Yusuf Pathan would never have been able to do that since he is a hard hitter himself and does not have much patience, but before either theory could be tested he got out making just 2 runs of 3 balls by Morne Morkel.
Lone ranger Virat Kohli was standing there on 87 runs of 92 balls with Harbhajan Singh who would have probably helped him make atleast a century but unfortunately the rain stopped everything.
There is a large possibility that India will win the next/ last ODI along with the series and it is also likely that one of these brilliant players maybe the next man of the match, but the larger picture shows that all these paper tigers have to look solid in order to compete in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 27 days.
Another point to be observed in this series so far is that, whenever India has won it has been by the skin of their teeth but whenever South Africa has won it has been convincingly.
Tags: 4th ODI, Cricket, D/L Method, India, JP Duminy, ODI Cricket, ODI Series, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Virat Kohli
