Ind SA ODI 3: India Steal Win From SA With Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh's Batting

It was an unusual match in more ways than one. For one, both teams seemed off colour and performed in patches. And ultimately it seems to boil down to who really wanted to win this really. Perhaps the World Cup selection was on the mind of the South Africans while the announcement of India’s World Cup appeared to have eased tensions and allowed complacency to enter the minds of the Indians cricketers for the third ODI of the India South Africa series.

yusuf pathan avoids

South Africa battled for the most part to put up a total and although Graeme Smith, the South African captain, took on the onus to anchor the innings, it was not until the partnership between JP Duminy and debutant Faf du Plessis materialized that the South African efforts forged ahead with some intention.

Smith hit forty-three runs before he played a misjudged sweep to be caught at first slip and it appeared with his dismissal, South Africa were sinking in an abyss at four for ninety in the twenty-fourth over. It was Harbhajan Singh’s second wicket implying that the slower bowlers would have a field day as South Africa struggled to put runs on board at Newlands, Cape Town.

But it was Zaheer Khan who applied the brakes once more with three wickets on the South Africans but not before the duo could forge a 110 run partnership for the fifth wicket to give substance to South Africa’s proceedings. While Duminy scored a valuable half century, but it was the debutant, du Plessis, who impressed all with a mature sixty under the circumstances

However, the acceleration was derailed once more as South Africa ended up being bowled for 220 in the final over, leaving India feeling they had done a decent job in the field to restrict the hosts.

morne morkel celebrates with team

But the hopes of a facile victory were quickly dashed as Dale Steyn took a spectacular caught and bowled chance off Murali Vijay. Morne Morkel was steaming in and picked up Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. By the time Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, was dismissed by Johan Botha, India were heaps of trouble at four down for sixty-nine in the twentieth over.

But the fireworks did not really come on until Yusuf Pathan came to the crease with the bat in hand. Surviving a couple of fluke shots initially, not to mention a couple of beneficial dropped half chances from the hosts, Pathan took on Botha, smashing him for three huge sixes to tilt the dynamics of the match.

Suddenly it was not match over as Yusuf injected much needed life into the match to wake up crowds that had been virtually put to sleep by the sedate proceedings, until a one day match. En route, Yusuf took some body blows as Morne Morkel targeted Yusuf’s rib cage, catching up twice on the right arm. Through it all, Yusuf was rebuilding India’s victory opportunity with Suresh Raina of seventy five runs before Morkel struck for the third wicket of the innings.

But India’s hopes wilted once more as Yusuf Pathan fell to Dale Steyn, caught by Morkel himself, for fifty-nine runs off only fifty balls as Steyn was firing on all cylinders as well, with India’s score on 182 for seven after forty overs.

But Harbhajan Singh is not being branded an all rounder for nothing. With Zaheer Khan, he stitched a twenty-five run partnership and carried his batting critically with India having only two wickets in hand with Ashish Nehra at the crease. Harbhajan’s cameo knock of twenty-three has not only given India an unexpected victory but also, has meant that India go up 2-1 in the series with South Africa needing to do it all on Friday again.