South Africa batsmen and Steyn blow India away

South Africa 358-4 (50 overs)

India 217 (41 overs)

Toss: India, chose to field South Africa: De Kock 135, De Villiers 77, Amla 65, Duminy 59 n.o; Shami 3-68

India: Dhoni 65, Kohli 31; Steyn 3-25, McLaren 3-49

Man of the match: Quinton de Kock (South Africa)

JOHANNESBURG // Quinton de Kock will hog the headlines for his fearless innings that helped South Africa set India a massive target of 359. Hashim Amla will be praised for his typically calm approach at the top of the innings that told batsmen just how to approach an Indian bowling attack that once again lacked teeth.

AB de Villiers sent one more reminder, as if one was necessary, of his class. And South Africa’s fans will remember the day they had to take cover in the stands at Wanderers as JP Duminy rained sixes on them.

But India will know that it was half an hour of Dale Steyn that made all the difference, not merely in securing a 141-run win the first one-day international, but in setting the tone for the entire series.

When Steyn bowls with his tail up, no pitch is too flat – and the Wanderers surface had more live grass, and, as a result, carry and lateral movement than in any recent match played here – and no batsman is man enough to choose attack over defence.

Even the great Viv Richards would have thought twice about taking the attack to Steyn when he was in the middle of the kind of spell he delivered yesterday.

Rohit Sharma did the smart thing, playing at Steyn only when all other options were ruled out. If the ball was outside the off, as it was repeatedly, he left it alone, for late away swing at 145 kmph and more is not something you play by guesswork.

It took 16 balls for Rohit to as much as lay bat on ball against Steyn and the first runs off the paceman came off a leading edge. Even figures of 4-2-5-0 do not accurately convey just how unplayable he was on a cool evening in Johannesburg.

With Shikhar Dhawan being accounted for by a sharp bouncer from Morne Morkel that was skied to the wicketkeeper, Rohit settled down a touch, and picked off consecutive punchy boundaries off Steyn.

Virat Kohli, dropped early by De Kock, decided to make the most of any non-Steyn overs and counterattacked without being rash. But just when Kohli was looking good, he got a peach from Ryan McLaren and edged to slip.

With the master of the ODI chase gone for only 31, Yuvraj Singh was welcomed to the crease by a nasty bouncer that climbed sharply and thudded into the gloves.

The next ball was full and shaping in, and Yuvraj’s attempt to work the ball to leg proved fatal as the ball clipped the top of the middle stump.

Rohit, who had crawled to 18 from 43 balls, was beckoned for a non-existent single by Suresh Raina and the direct hit from David Miller reduced India to 65 for 4 and ended the game as a contest.

Dhoni battled to 65, whittling down the margin of defeat, but the job at hand was too much even for a man of his self-belief and India slumped to 217 all out.

Leading into the first ODI, De Villiers made light of the fact that South Africa had not topped 300 a single time in 2013, adding that he did not expect conditions that would allow for such free batting in this series. India’s bowlers, failing spectacularly at the death once more, proved him wrong, not merely conceding 300, but going well beyond. The odd couple of Amla and De Kock set the stage. Amla, batting with maturity, summed up the dangers, if any, in the opposition bowling early on and settled into his rhythm. At the other end, the man-child who Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, referred to as “the wild thing”, attacked mercilessly.

South Africa wanted a good start, but even they would not have anticipated putting 152 on the board before the first wicket fell when Amla (65) edged Mohammed Shami on to his stumps. If the foundation was solid, what was built on it was spectacular.

De Kock cleared his front leg and clouted over fine leg whenever he felt the need to release the pressure and otherwise carved the ball into the gaps, reaching his first century on home soil almost untroubled. When he fell, flooring the accelerator to reach 135 off only 121, he had more than done his job.

It certainly helped that there were no slouches around De Kock to pull down the strike rate. De Villiers hit 77 runs at a strike rate of nearly 164 and Duminy ended unbeaten with five sixes in a 29-ball 59.

India have struggled with their death bowling on the subcontinent’s flat pitches. It was no different last night as the final 10 overs cost 135 runs and the last five went for 84 runs. South Africa knew India had chased down big scores with some ease in the recent past, and would not have thought the game was won at the halfway stage.

But, they also knew well that none of those chases had come against an attack that included Steyn.

Anand Vasu is managing editor of Wisden India (www.wisdenindia.com).

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