Kanpur: India made amends for the Ahmedabad debacle by thrashing South Africa by eight wickets within three days in a dramatic third and final Test to level the three-match series 1-1 here today.
After two days of pulsating battle between bat and ball on an under-prepared Green Park track, the Indians tilted the balance decisively in their favour with a splendid all-round display to ensure that their impressive track record at home was kept intact.
The script could not have unfolded in a more heartening way for the hosts as they first took a crucial 60-run first innings lead by scoring 325 and then skittled out South Africa for a paltry 121 in just 55.5 overs in their second essay.
Needing 62 runs for victory, the Indians lost Virender Sehwag (22) and Wasim Jaffer (10) but former captains Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid steered the team home.
Rahul Dravid hit the winning runs by sweeping Paul Harris to the boundary at the fag end of the day, triggering off celebrations in the Indian dressing room.
None of the South African batsmen could hang around for long today on the deteriorating surface, making the defiant 46-run last wicket partnership between S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma all the more important.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 4-44 while Virender Sehwag returned with career-best Test figures of 8.5-2-12-3.
Ishant Sharma also played a big role taking two wickets for 18 runs.
Captain Graeme Smith was the top scorer for the visitors with 35 while Ashwell Prince remained unbeaten on 22 on an eventful day. Like the second Test in Ahmedabad, the match got over within three days but this time it was the home team which had the last laugh.
The South African second innings began poorly as they were reduced to 27 for two by lunch and could never really recover with the Indian bowlers exploiting the crumbling track to good effect.
The visitors showed signs of a fightback with captain Smith and the experienced Jacques Kallis batting resolutely to steady the ship but Sehwag's twin blows late in the post-lunch session put India in an advantageous position.
Both were a picture of concentration as they played cautiously against both seamers and spinners to help the team wipe out the deficit without losing any more wickets.
After the second drinks break, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni introduced Sehwag and he struck with his first delivery by scalping Kallis.
Sehwag bowled a quicker delivery outside off-stump and Kallis went back and across to play it, the ball spun sharply and Wasim Jaffer took a smart catch at short-leg.
Ashwell Prince, who joined the action after Kallis' dismissal, could have been out in the very first ball he faced. Prince tried to close the face of the bat and got a leading edge, but Jaffer could not react quickly enough to catch it.
Sehwag then did the star turn by getting the well-settled Smith bowled round the legs with a fastish delivery.
The South Africans took tea at a precarious 88 for four but the wickets started falling in a heap in the last session with AB de villiers (7), Mark Boucher (5), Morne Morkel (0) and Paul Harris (0) departing in quick succession to put the home team in control of the game. Harbhajan dismissed De villiers in the first over after tea with Laxman taking a smart catch at backward short leg and then Ishant Sharma produced a devastating spell to evict Boucher and Morkel.
The day began with tailenders S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma adding some crucial runs to give India a handy 60-run first innings lead.
Resuming at the overnight score of 288 for nine, the two tailenders frustrated the visitors with some streaky shots to a stitch 46-run partnership for the last wicket before the innings folded at 325 shortly after the first drinks break.
The Indians, who had a slender 23 runs lead before play began this morning, needed to gain a more substantial lead and both Sreesanth (29) and Sharma (14 not out) were in no mood to surrender their wickets.
Sreesanth was the more aggressive of the two and hit some lusty boundaries off paceman Dale Steyn but some of the boundaries came off edges through the slip cordon. Every run put on by the tailenders was lustily cheered and the lead gave the hosts a definite edge to push for the win.
Sreesanth was once caught by Smith at the mid-off region off Morne Morkel but it turned out to be a no-ball. But he could not capitalise on that 'life' and perished soon after with Harris plotting his dismissal.
Sreesanth came forward to drive a flighted delivery and played it in the air towards Prince at short cover who took a simple catch, bringing an end to the Indian innings. His knock of 29 came off 44 balls and was studded with five boundaries.
© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved.
| 3rd Test, Green Park, Kanpur, April 11-15, 2008 | |
| Match Information | | Series: | South Africa in India, 2008 | | Toss: | South Africa (Elected to bat) | | Match Status: | India won by 8 wkts | | Man of the Match: | Saurav Ganguly | | Man of the Series: | Harbhajan Singh | | | Match Officials | | Umpires: | Asad Rauf (Pak) | | Billy Doctrove (WI) | | Third Umpire: | GA Pratapkumar (Ind) | | Match Referee: | Roshan Mahanama (SL) | |
| Batting: South Africa 1st Innings | | Batsmen | South Africa (265 for 10 in 87.3 overs) | Runs | Balls | 4's | 6's | SR | | Neil McKenzie | st M Dhoni b P Chawla | 36 | 57 | 5 | 0 | 63.16 | | Graeme Smith (c) | c W Jaffer b Y Singh | 69 | 134 | 8 | 2 | 51.49 | | Hashim Amla | b I Sharma | 51 | 101 | 6 | 0 | 50.50 | | Jacques Kallis | b H Singh | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14.29 | | Ashwell Prince | lbw b V Sehwag | 16 | 71 | 0 | 0 | 22.54 | | AB de Villiers | c S Ganguly b P Chawla | 25 | 45 | 3 | 0 | 55.56 | | Mark Boucher (wk) | b I Sharma | 29 | 59 | 3 | 0 | 49.15 | | Morne Morkel | c R Dravid b H Singh | 17 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 100.00 | | Paul Harris | b I Sharma | 12 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 38.71 | | Dale Steyn | c (sub)M Kaif b H Singh | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | | Makhaya Ntini | not out | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | | Extras: w - 2, nb - 4, lb - 3, b - 0 | 9 | | | Total: (265 for 10 in 87.3 overs) | 265 | Run Rate: 3.03 | |
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| Fall of Wickets |
| 1/61 (Neil McKenzie, 17.5 ov.) , 2/152 (Graeme Smith, 45.4 ov.) , 3/160 (Hashim Amla, 48.4 ov.) , 4/161 (Jacques Kallis, 49.6 ov.) , 5/199 (AB de Villiers, 62.2 ov.) , 6/215 (Ashwell Prince, 73.2 ov.) , 7/241 (Morne Morkel, 77.5 ov.) , 8/264 (Mark Boucher, 85.2 ov.) , 9/265 (Dale Steyn, 86.4 ov.) , 10/265 (Paul Harris, 87.3 ov.) | |
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| Bowling: India | | Bowler | O | M | R | W | nb | wd | ER | | S Sreesanth | 11 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2.9 | | Ishant Sharma | 12.3 | 1 | 55 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4.4 | | Harbhajan Singh | 31 | 9 | 52 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.7 | | Piyush Chawla | 16 | 3 | 66 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.1 | | Yuvraj Singh | 11 | 1 | 39 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 | | Virender Sehwag | 6 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | | Batting: India 1st Innings | | Batsmen | India (325 for 10 in 99.4 overs) | Runs | Balls | 4's | 6's | SR | | Wasim Jaffer | lbw b M Morkel | 15 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 44.12 | | Virender Sehwag | lbw b D Steyn | 8 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 57.14 | | Rahul Dravid | c A Villiers b M Morkel | 29 | 106 | 4 | 0 | 27.36 | | VVS Laxman | b M Morkel | 50 | 103 | 7 | 0 | 48.54 | | Saurav Ganguly | c H Amla b D Steyn | 87 | 119 | 9 | 1 | 73.11 | | Yuvraj Singh | c A Villiers b P Harris | 32 | 57 | 6 | 0 | 56.14 | | Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c) (wk) | st M Boucher b P Harris | 32 | 54 | 5 | 0 | 59.26 | | Harbhajan Singh | lbw b D Steyn | 6 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 | | Piyush Chawla | c G Smith b M Ntini | 4 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 33.33 | | S Sreesanth | c A Prince b P Harris | 29 | 44 | 5 | 0 | 65.91 | | Ishant Sharma | not out | 14 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 36.84 | | Extras: w - 1, nb - 4, lb - 6, b - 8 | 19 | | | Total: (325 for 10 in 99.4 overs) | 325 | Run Rate: 3.26 | | | | Fall of Wickets | | 1/18 (Virender Sehwag, 4.6 ov.) , 2/35 (Wasim Jaffer, 10.4 ov.) , 3/113 (Rahul Dravid, 41.1 ov.) , 4/123 (VVS Laxman, 43.5 ov.) , 5/188 (Yuvraj Singh, 60.6 ov.) , 6/248 (Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 76.1 ov.) , 7/268 (Harbhajan Singh, 82.5 ov.) , 8/279 (Piyush Chawla, 85.6 ov.) , 9/279 (Saurav Ganguly, 86.1 ov.) , 10/325 (S Sreesanth, 99.4 ov.) | | | | Bowling: South Africa | | Bowler | O | M | R | W | nb | wd | ER | | Dale Steyn | 20 | 1 | 71 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3.6 | | Makhaya Ntini | 21 | 7 | 47 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 | | Morne Morkel | 15 | 2 | 63 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4.2 | | Paul Harris | 32.4 | 8 | 101 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3.1 | | Jacques Kallis | 9 | 1 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.6 | | Hashim Amla | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | | | Batting: South Africa 2nd Innings | | Batsmen | South Africa (121 for 10 in 55.5 overs) | Runs | Balls | 4's | 6's | SR | | Neil McKenzie | lbw b S Sreesanth | 14 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 31.11 | | Graeme Smith (c) | b V Sehwag | 35 | 90 | 3 | 0 | 38.89 | | Hashim Amla | c W Jaffer b H Singh | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | | Jacques Kallis | c W Jaffer b V Sehwag | 15 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 33.33 | | Ashwell Prince | not out | 22 | 87 | 1 | 0 | 25.29 | | AB de Villiers | c VVS Laxman b H Singh | 7 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 | | Mark Boucher (wk) | c M Dhoni b I Sharma | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 45.45 | | Morne Morkel | b I Sharma | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | | Paul Harris | c R Dravid b H Singh | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | | Dale Steyn | b H Singh | 7 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 70.00 | | Makhaya Ntini | c S Ganguly b V Sehwag | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | | Extras: w - 1, nb - 2, lb - 1, b - 12 | 16 | | | Total: (121 for 10 in 55.5 overs) | 121 | Run Rate: 2.17 | | | | Fall of Wickets | | 1/26 (Neil McKenzie, 11.3 ov.) , 2/27 (Hashim Amla, 12.5 ov.) , 3/65 (Jacques Kallis, 29.1 ov.) , 4/72 (Graeme Smith, 33.1 ov.) , 5/90 (AB de Villiers, 39.5 ov.) , 6/101 (Mark Boucher, 45.1 ov.) , 7/101 (Morne Morkel, 45.4 ov.) , 8/102 (Paul Harris, 46.5 ov.) , 9/114 (Dale Steyn, 50.5 ov.) , 10/121 (Makhaya Ntini, 55.5 ov.) | | | | Bowling: India | | Bowler | O | M | R | W | nb | wd | ER | | Harbhajan Singh | 23 | 7 | 44 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.9 | | Ishant Sharma | 10 | 2 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1.8 | | S Sreesanth | 9 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | | Piyush Chawla | 4 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 | | Virender Sehwag | 8.5 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.4 | | Yuvraj Singh | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | | | Batting: India 2nd Innings | | Batsmen | India (64 for 2 in 13.1 overs) | Runs | Balls | 4's | 6's | SR | | Wasim Jaffer | lbw b M Morkel | 10 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 90.91 | | Virender Sehwag | c A Prince b P Harris | 22 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 183.33 | | Saurav Ganguly | not out | 13 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 46.43 | | Rahul Dravid | not out | 18 | 29 | 4 | 0 | 62.07 | | VVS Laxman | | | | | | | | Yuvraj Singh | | | | | | | | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | | | | | | | | Harbhajan Singh | | | | | | | | Piyush Chawla | | | | | | | | S Sreesanth | | | | | | | | Ishant Sharma | | | | | | | | Extras: w - 0, nb - 1, lb - 0, b - 0 | 1 | | | Total: (64 for 2 in 13.1 overs) | 64 | Run Rate: 4.86 | | | | Fall of Wickets | | 1/32 (Virender Sehwag, 3.3 ov.) , 2/32 (Wasim Jaffer, 4.2 ov.) | | | | Bowling: South Africa | | Bowler | O | M | R | W | nb | wd | ER | | Dale Steyn | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 | | Makhaya Ntini | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | | Paul Harris | 5.1 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | | Morne Morkel | 5 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.6 | | |
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