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Nagpur - The Proteas celebrated the fifth anniversary of the famous 438 game in perfect style when they beat India by three wickets in their Group B match at the Cricket World Cup at Nagpur on Saturday.
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The result gives the Proteas six points from their four matches and third place on the log and one more win should be sufficient to put them in the knock-out phase. They play Ireland at Kolkata on Tuesday and Bangladesh at Dhaka next Saturday.
There were many heroes for the Proteas. Dale Steyn took a phenomenal 5/9 in the death overs to restrict India to 296 when they looked like making something in the region of 350 or more.
Robin Peterson smashed 16 runs off the last 4 balls from Ashish Nehra when the Proteas needed a challenging 13 in the last over for victory.
There was the 86-runs partnership between Hashim Amla (61 off 72 balls) and Jacques Kallis (69 off 88 balls) that got the Proteas within range.
And there was another magnificent knock from AB de Villiers who needed a runner in the latter part of his innings but still managed 52 off 39 balls at a vital stage.
The use of the batting power play was another significant factor with the Proteas scoring 52 for the loss of De Villiers during this period. By comparison India only managed 30/4 at the start of a collapse that saw them lose their last nine wickets for 29 runs.
On the Indian side there was a magnificent 48th ODI century from Sachin Tendulkar at less than a run a ball. Together with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Ghambir he put the Protea attack to the sword up front to the extent that India had 197/1 off 30 overs.
Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh drew on their experience to bowl extremely well and it was something of a surprise that Harbhajan was not given the last over ahead of Ashish Nehra.
The Proteas survived a power play blitz from Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in the first 15 overs to restrict India to 296 all out in 48.4 overs.
It was a remarkable recovery considering India had posted 128 without loss in the first 15 overs and 197/1 after 30. At that stage it seemed likely that the Proteas would be chasing a target in the region of 400 with the batting power play not having been taken.
India won the toss in perfect batting conditions and were given a runaway start. Sehwag survived a chance in single overs when he nicked Morne Morkel just wide of wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk and he took full advantage to go to 73 off just 66 balls before top edging a delivery from part time leg spinner Faf du Plessis on to his stumps.
He and Tendulkar had put on 142 off 107 balls and there was no letting up after his dismissal with Tendulkar and Gautam Ghambir adding a further 125 for the second wicket, also in quick time.
Tendulkar reached his 48th ODI century (111 off 101 balls) and a record 6th at the World Cup. He also completed 2 000 ODI runs against South Africa.
But his dismissal by Morkel in the second over of the batting power play kickstarted a remarkable collapse that saw the last 9 wickets falling for 29 runs in 9 overs. Steyn followed up in the next over to dismiss both Gambhir (69 off 75 balls) and Yusuf Pathan (without scoring).
Three wickets fell in 6 balls for 1 run and India only managed 30/4 in the batting power play.
The slide continued as Steyn, assisted by Robbie Peterson who gained substantial turn, ran through the rest of the Indian innings.
Apart from the top three who made more than 250 runs between them, only two other batsmen reached double figures with the last three not making a run between them.
Steyn finished with 5/50 in 9.4 overs which is his career best in ODI cricket and is also the best ever ODI bowling return at Nagpur. It was on the same ground last year that Steyn took his career best Test figures of 7/51 against India and went on to take 10 wickets in the match.
Johan Botha, playing in the place of the injured Imran Tahir, was the one bowler to hold his ground during the early onslaught and played an important role in pulling the Indian run rate back from 8.5 to 6.7.
All the latest Cricket World Cup news
The result gives the Proteas six points from their four matches and third place on the log and one more win should be sufficient to put them in the knock-out phase. They play Ireland at Kolkata on Tuesday and Bangladesh at Dhaka next Saturday.
There were many heroes for the Proteas. Dale Steyn took a phenomenal 5/9 in the death overs to restrict India to 296 when they looked like making something in the region of 350 or more.
Robin Peterson smashed 16 runs off the last 4 balls from Ashish Nehra when the Proteas needed a challenging 13 in the last over for victory.
There was the 86-runs partnership between Hashim Amla (61 off 72 balls) and Jacques Kallis (69 off 88 balls) that got the Proteas within range.
And there was another magnificent knock from AB de Villiers who needed a runner in the latter part of his innings but still managed 52 off 39 balls at a vital stage.
The use of the batting power play was another significant factor with the Proteas scoring 52 for the loss of De Villiers during this period. By comparison India only managed 30/4 at the start of a collapse that saw them lose their last nine wickets for 29 runs.
On the Indian side there was a magnificent 48th ODI century from Sachin Tendulkar at less than a run a ball. Together with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Ghambir he put the Protea attack to the sword up front to the extent that India had 197/1 off 30 overs.
Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh drew on their experience to bowl extremely well and it was something of a surprise that Harbhajan was not given the last over ahead of Ashish Nehra.
The Proteas survived a power play blitz from Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in the first 15 overs to restrict India to 296 all out in 48.4 overs.
It was a remarkable recovery considering India had posted 128 without loss in the first 15 overs and 197/1 after 30. At that stage it seemed likely that the Proteas would be chasing a target in the region of 400 with the batting power play not having been taken.
India won the toss in perfect batting conditions and were given a runaway start. Sehwag survived a chance in single overs when he nicked Morne Morkel just wide of wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk and he took full advantage to go to 73 off just 66 balls before top edging a delivery from part time leg spinner Faf du Plessis on to his stumps.
He and Tendulkar had put on 142 off 107 balls and there was no letting up after his dismissal with Tendulkar and Gautam Ghambir adding a further 125 for the second wicket, also in quick time.
Tendulkar reached his 48th ODI century (111 off 101 balls) and a record 6th at the World Cup. He also completed 2 000 ODI runs against South Africa.
But his dismissal by Morkel in the second over of the batting power play kickstarted a remarkable collapse that saw the last 9 wickets falling for 29 runs in 9 overs. Steyn followed up in the next over to dismiss both Gambhir (69 off 75 balls) and Yusuf Pathan (without scoring).
Three wickets fell in 6 balls for 1 run and India only managed 30/4 in the batting power play.
The slide continued as Steyn, assisted by Robbie Peterson who gained substantial turn, ran through the rest of the Indian innings.
Apart from the top three who made more than 250 runs between them, only two other batsmen reached double figures with the last three not making a run between them.
Steyn finished with 5/50 in 9.4 overs which is his career best in ODI cricket and is also the best ever ODI bowling return at Nagpur. It was on the same ground last year that Steyn took his career best Test figures of 7/51 against India and went on to take 10 wickets in the match.
Johan Botha, playing in the place of the injured Imran Tahir, was the one bowler to hold his ground during the early onslaught and played an important role in pulling the Indian run rate back from 8.5 to 6.7.
