An epic result wins back the Proteas supporters
If you had looked at the World Cup fixture list before the tournament got under way you would probably have picked India to beat South Africa in their group stage match. India have been tipped as a front runner to win the World Cup and it was inevitable that the Proteas would lose one on their way to the quarter-finals.
And after 20 overs you would have been patting yourself on the back for your accurate assessment, as the Indian openers Sehwag and the legend of Sachin Tendulkar quite simply murdered the Proteas bowling attack. Sehwag scored 73 (66), Tendulkar 111 (101) and Gambhir 69 (75)… the writing was on the wall.
However when Tendulkar lost his wicket the Indian batting line-up collapsed under the pressure of Dale Steyn. Steyn wrapped up the Indians quickly taking 5 wickets from 16 balls. The Indians losing 9 wickets for 29 runs. 297 set to win, it was still going to be a massive run chase.
The Proteas kept us on the edge of our seats during the run chase, Amla was again an awesome contributor to the innings while Smith continued his poor run of form 16 (39). Kallis’ innings signalled a return of form not one game too late with this 69 (88) eventually run out.
AB de Villiers added haste to the inning with his more than a run-a-ball half-century. There was still plenty of runs to be scored and this time the middle to lower order delivered in style. Faf du Plessis partnered with Botha 23 (15) and Peterson 18* (7) to bring the team to victory. Needing 13 runs from the last over, Peterson hit 16 from the first four balls.
What a game of cricket, The Castle Larger Proteas Super Fans really got their full value, this game will go into the history books. What a privilege is must have been to have been there.
The elation from the dressing room was fantastic, a massive fight back from the criticism and negativity of the loss to England the week before. The Proteas fought with passion, even when they were getting smashed in the opening stanza of the match.
This is the Proteas we’re used to seeing, the boys with the never say die attitude, it was a pleasure to watch and oh how sweet it must have felt to have silenced the critics.
Leave a Reply
Follow SACB:
great game! Steyn was superb to watch. For India it was a loss they can live with. If they meet again in the semis / finals, India will know that they almost won this in spite of losing 9 wickets for 29 runs.
really love that game, SA did proved that they aren’t media hyped no #1 team they actually are one
They had one choke game against England but since then have not put a foot wrong. es tag and displayed some skill in areas that have not been their forte.
I kinda hope India wins the World Cup, because we won against India and we beat them in the series, just a few months ago.
It is too bad series victories don’t count for more, I know I enjoy them A LOT!
INDIA PLAY WELL IN BIG GAMES COMPARED TO SOUTH AFRICA,
WHEN IT COUNTS THE MOST
THE GAME AGAINST INDIA – INDIA COLLAPSED THEMSELVES IT WASNT ANYTHING SPECIAL FROM SOUTH AFRICA
THAT SCORE WUD HAVE BEEN 400+
THE INDIANS GOT CARRIED AWAY AND ALL
SOUTH AFRICA NEEDS TO PLAY ZIMBABWE OR CANADA IN A SEMI FINAL WORLD CUP IN ORDER TO QUALIF FOR FINAL – LETS HOPE THEY DONT FAIL AGAINST THEM, THEN ITS GONNA BE REALLY BAD
It was a terrible performance by Indians in the last 10 overs. Thankfully, it came at the right time for India which gave them a jitter to prepare well for the upcoming games. Happy to see SACHIN lifting the trophy his dream at the end. God Bless!!!
KXIP Merchandise
Some brilliant individual performances: Kallis and Steyn were reliable as ever in their specialties. And AB was a great catalyst to get things moving quickly.
Good job.