India vs South Africa: 2nd ODI: Gwalior

What Sachin Tendulkar could achieve on his own, the whole of South African team struggled to keep parity with that. This could summarise India’s series victory over South African in the ODI series by virtue of their second straight win today at Gwalior. India’s series victory was possible riding over the little master Sachin Tendulkar’s shoulders, whose incredible 200, the first man in the history of the game to have scored a double tone in ODIs, not only set the tone of the match, but also put the pressure on the Proteas from the moment they came on to chase.

Brief Scores:

India: 401/3 in 50 overs (Sachin 200*, Dhoni 68*, Karthik 79)
South Africa: 248 in 42.5 overs (AB de Villiers 114*, Sreeshanth 3/49)
India vs South Africa: 2nd ODI: Gwalior

What Sachin Tendulkar could achieve on his own, the whole of South African team struggled to keep parity with that. This could summarise India’s series victory over South African in the ODI series by virtue of their second straight win today at Gwalior. India’s series victory was possible riding over the little master Sachin Tendulkar’s shoulders, whose incredible 200, the first man in the history of the game to have scored a double tone in ODIs, not only set the tone of the match, but also put the pressure on the Proteas from the moment they came on to chase.

Pressure is such an unputdownable agent of change. Batting first, India and Sachin never lifted their legs from the accelerators mounting the pressure on the opponents. While he was stroking the ball freely but fiercely, his partners rallied around him to make merry off the hapless bowlers. The boundaries were flying all over the park, only the willows changed from Sehwag, Karthik, Yousuf and Dhoni.

The smaller ground and lightening fast outfield meant that a bigger challenge for India to set. But perhaps Dhoni himself hadn’t set 400 a target in his mind for the chase. The previous best score in the ground was 289, but Sachin was in mood to set a bigger target for India perhaps. That too, losing only three wickets on course reiterates the fact that India’s best bet in winning matches would be their batsmen.

The Proteas’ reply was listless. Overawed by the masterly knock of Sachin earlier, it seemed that they couldn’t recover from the shock of being belted all around. Wickets falling at regular intervals, one thought whether South Africa could reach 200 on the day. Such was the domination of the Indian team today that the bowlers didn’t have to toil hard for wickets – as the South African batsmen was falling prey to insurmountable pressure and some disciplined bowling.

The match folded up in the 43rd over of the South African innings with the visitors bundled out for 258. Interestingly, it was around the 43rd over, when Sachin, unbeaten on 186, eyed the double hundred and got it.

The series win ensured India the second place in the ICC ODI year end ranking.

Brief Scores:

India: 401/3 in 50 overs (Sachin 200*, Dhoni 68*, Karthik 79)
South Africa: 248 in 42.5 overs (AB de Villiers 114*, Sreeshanth 3/49)