JOHANNESBURG: It was not the nip in the air but the murderous blade of South African batsmen and the hostility of their pacers that sent a chill down the spine as the hosts first slaughtered India's toothless attack to post a formidable tally of 358/4 and then bowled India out for 217 in the first ODI to win by a massive 141-run margin. This result might just be the prelude to a torrid December.
Chasing a massive target under lights, the Indian top-order was clueless against pace and bounce extracted by South African pace quintet of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Ryan McLaren, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell.
Indian batsmen not only struggled to cope with short-pitched stuff but also found it hard to negotiate the swing from the ones pitched up. Inform opener Shikhar Dhawan top edged his hook off Morkel to the wicketkeeper to start the slide.
Rohit Sharma had a torrid time in the middle. In making a 43-ball 18, he played and missed repeatedly, trying to figure out where his off-stump was before being run out while trying to steal a poorly-judged single. Kohli (31), who was dropped by Quinton de Kock off Morkel early on, appeared to be getting into his groove when McLaren induced an edge. Yuvraj Singh was bowled off the second ball he faced to leave India staring down the barrel.
There was the customary Dhoni defiance towards the end, (65 off 71 balls), but it was never going to be enough.
Earlier, the South African batsmen creamed a toothless Indian attack which didn't have any clue how to stop the run-flow. 358 is a mere statistic. What was telling was the utter disrespect that the hosts showed for the Indian attack.
There was money on offer for the Pink Charity Foundation (fighting against breast cancer) for every boundary and six hit, and AB de Villiers' boys, sporting pink, ensured that the foundation bosses went home happy.
The plan was clear right from the beginning, to have wickets in hand, and the Indian attack - led by Mohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn't know where to bowl to Quinton de Kock (135 off 121 balls) and Hashim Amla (65 off 88 balls).
Bowling at a pace of around 130 km/hr on a greenish pitch, both Bhuvi and Mohit often made the error of bowling short.
De Kock and Amla, fantastic backfoot players, rocked back and made the most of the gift. They didn't take undue risks, yet managed to keep a run-rate of 5 per over. An opening partnership of 152 off 29.3 overs had set the platform for the late carnage of 134 off the last 10.
Mohd Shami (3-68) was surprisingly introduced a little later and he was the only one who looked to make an impact. He has that extra pace that didn't make him easy meat even if he was bowling back of a length. He induced an inside edge off Amla and got him bowled at a time when the South African star was looking good for a century. Shami also got the better off Jacques Kallis (10) when he couldn't keep a drive down and played it to short cover. India might just have hoped to keep South Africa under 300.
But de Kock and AB de Villiers, during a course of a 75-run partnership in nine overs, completely took the game away from India.
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