India 298 for 9 (Raina 58, Sehwag 46, Karthik 44, Kallis 3-29) beat South Africa 297 (Kallis 89, Parnell 49, Jadeja 2-29) by one run
Thriller! Superb match! Everybody thought the match was over with the departure of Jacques Kallis but the tail enders (Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell) gave it a nail biting finish! India clinched it by one run in a final ball thriller.
So close, yet so far. When will the lady luck shower her blessings on South Africa?
Brilliant final over bowled by PK under tremendous pressure. Even the captain cool MS Dhoni had worried expressions when his strike bowlers were being whacked all over the ground by the South African tail Enders.
With the departure of Kallis, the result was predictable, Indian fans started to celebrate. It was though a momentary pleasure. Dale Steyn (35 off 19 balls), who went wicketless, decided to make his presence felt with the bat. A match that looked like it would never deliver a close finish went on to be a thriller! South Africa had to once again face bad luck despite the late heroics from Steyn and Parnell.
It turned out a match of the finest of margins. Had Tendulkar not been so committed fielding off the second to last ball would India have won? Had it not been for that brilliant dive by Abhishek saving three precious runs in the slog overs, would South Africa have emerged the victors? In a match where the victory margin is of just one run, every effort counts!
Well those who saw the match will realize how close it was! For the others India leads the series 1-0. It was good to see a team effort throughout the game from both the sides. The Indian scorecard had contributions from all (unfortunately, except Tendulkar), but didn’t his effort win the match for India?
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