It's vintage India

It was easily one of the most complete Indian displays in a long time, and Sourav Ganguly's men had plenty of reasons to be celebrating at the end of it all.

While batting, the Indians made a superb start, consolidated towards the middle of the innings with emphasis on building partnerships and, with wickets in hand, went for the bowling in the last 10 overs. The ideal scenario really.

And the bowlers, backed by a huge total, stuck to the job, backed by some sharp fielding for most part. For once, the Proteas were outplayed.

The Indian skipper led from the front with a memorable innings. The noteworthy aspect of Ganguly's batting is that when he reaches the three-figure mark, he invariably carries on to make a big hundred.

This is vital for the team, since a well-set batsman is always better off in the end overs than someone who has just come in, especially if that player happens to be someone like Ganguly, who can find the gaps at will.

The Bengal cricketer also showed that the burden of captaincy does not weigh heavily on his shoulders. In fact, he appears to relish the challenge.

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid too made their contributions. Tendulkar seized the initiative early on with some booming strokes and then, Rahul Dravid, not getting bogged down, produced some sparkling shots himself.

There was a brief period following the departure of Tendulkar, when South Africa had a chance to bounce back, but the two costly overs sent down by Nicky Boje and Andrew Hall seemed to have a demoralising effect on the team.

Looking back, that was the turning point of the duel. The Indians gradually put the game beyond South Africa's reach.

After that lovely stand between Ganguly and Dravid, Yuveraj Singh, even if he was extremely lucky to survive early on, sizzled, as the South African bowling, with the exception of pace ace Allan Donald, appeared distinctly ragged.

This was also a day when catches were put down by the normally brilliant South African fielders, and Shaun Pollock & Co. will want to forget the match in a hurry.

Chasing a score like 295 is never easy. The batsmen, not getting time to settle down, have to go for the risky shots right from the beginning, and more often than not, fail to deliver. The pressure builds up all the time.

The impressive Zaheer Khan, who has shown the ability to send down well directed yorkers, struck twice early on and the contest was effectively over at that juncture.

By K. Srikkanth

www.krishsrikkanth.com

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Section  : Sport
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