India clinch a thriller; beat South Africa by 1 run

he nail-biting Eden Gardens Test was the perfect envoy to the first ODI between India and South Africa. The Sawai Mann Singh Stadium in Jaipur witnessed something that will go down as one of the most thrilling contests in the history of One-day cricket. And it was India who prevailed in the last ball photo-finish by a solitary run and take a 1-0 lead in the three-ODI series.

Ravindra Jadeja's miserly spell of 2-29 proved to be the difference as India clinched the thriller by one run.

At one time, a Proteas victory looked improbable when they required 74 runs off 42 balls with three wickets in hand. But Wayne Parnell (49) and Dale Steyn (35) turned the match on its head with a miraculous 65-run stand for the ninth wicket in just 38 balls.
The final over was full of drama. With 10 needed, Praveen Kumar was in the firing line to deliver for India. He used the slower ball to good effect to castle Steyn off the second ball. There was a close boundary call which the third umpire reckoned had been saved by a diving Tendulkar and a wide off the last ball. It was all over when Parnell played the last ball to third man region where Sreesanth picked it up and Dhoni dislodged the bails with the visitors one short of victory.
Defending 298 on a batting beauty under lights and with dew around, India desperately needed early wickets and they almost got both openers out in the first two overs. After Loots Bosman luckily survived a close lbw shout in the first over, off Praveen Kumar, Herschelle Gibbs was fortunate to stay at the wicket after the umpire failed to spot a faint nick to Dhoni off Ashish Nehra in the next over.
Praveen was very impressive, getting the ball to swing both ways in the early overs. He always looked like picking up a wicket, beating the batsman with varying movement and inducing false shots that kept falling short of fielders.
Gibbs looked at his destructive best when he welcomed S Sreesanth with two fours and a six into the mid-wicket fence. Bosman too took the attack on to the Indian bowlers but his whirlwind 23-ball cameo of 29 runs soon ended when he was cleaned up by Praveen, trying to give himself room to smash a straight delivery through the covers.
The Indian skipper brought on Ravindra Jadeja in the ninth over for an early spell of spin bowling and the part-timer responded superbly, with a man of the match winning 10-over spell of 2 for 29. He played with the patience of Gibbs, bowling a streak of seven dot-balls to the flamboyant opener, and then induced a lofted drive which landed in Virat Kohli’s hand at long-off.
Just when the Jacques Kallis- AB de Villiers partnership was blossoming, Jadeja struck again and castled the latter with the one that kept low. De Villiers tried to make room to hit the ball through the off-side but was deceived by the low bounce, giving Jadeja a wicket-maiden.
Jadeja kept things simple and stuck to a good line and length. The left-armer didn’t turn the ball a mile but got it to zip into the batsmen after pitching on the off-stump. What was also refreshing to see was Dhoni backing the young part-timer with enough men inside the ring, denying easy singles.

Skipper Jacques Kallis led from the front with three wickets and 89 runs but failed to take the Proteas home.

Sreesanth got off to a disastrous start coming after an injury layoff, giving away 74 runs in his nine overs, though he bagged two massive wickets of Mark Boucher and Kallis. Kallis (89), in particular, was the key wicket for India. As his partners kept changing, the skipper held fort for the Proteas with his 75th half-century. He looked extremely fluent with his shots and batted with a lot of grit. While he anchored the innings and resorted to finding gaps for singles and couples for most part of his knock, he also took the mantle of accelerating the run-rate and struck some mighty blows to bring up his six fours and a huge six.
After Kallis’s exit, all hopes seemed to be vanished for the visitors. But Wayne Parnell and Dale Steyn had other plans. Parnell, who impressed with his defensive skills in the Kolkata Test, proved his worth as a handy lower-order batter in ODIs with his 49-run knock. Steyn too, with used the long handle to great effect, racing away to 35 runs off 18 balls, with the help of a four and three sixes.
While the Proteas mostly batting rallied around one man, the Indian innings was a combined effort of all batsmen with Raina’s fine half-century leading the way. The left-hander combined class with power and improvisation. While his 58-run innings comprised an exquisitely timed cover-drive, it also had a powerfully smashed lofted drive over mid-on.
The most impressive feature of Raina’s knock was the way he dealt with the short-pitched deliveries. The southpaw, often criticised for his susceptibility against the bouncer, not only pulled the effort balls with superb timing but also guided one smartly over the wicketkeeper’s head for a boundary. Raina also stamped his authority with a mighty six down the ground off Parnell.
Apart from Raina, there were significant contributions from Virender Sehwag (46), Dinesh Karthik (44) and Virat Kohli (31).
Inserted in by Jacques Kallis, India’s intentions of piling up a huge total got an early setback when Herschelle Gibbs’s quick reflexes at covers sent Sachin Tendulkar packing in the second over of the match.
Sehwag and Karthik took the charge and brought up a 79-run stand in 75 balls. Sehwag continued in the way he best knows – belting Albie Morkel for two boundaries and a six in an over. He also produced a breathtaking upper-cut over the third-man region for six, as Dale Steyn, the bowler stood there nodding his head in disbelief.
After taking nine deliveries to get off the mark, Dinesh Karthik too decided to cut loose. He clobbered Wayne Parnell for thee fours in the eight over with a thumping straight drive, a heave over mid-wicket and a pull. In the very next over, he welcomed Charl Langeveldt at the crease with a lovely flick to the fence. Handy contributions from Ashish Nehra (16) and Praveen Kumar (13) got India close to the total of 300 in the end.