South Africa take series despite blazing Yusuf ton

South Africa 250 for (Amla 116*, van Wyk 56, Munaf 3-50) beat India (Yusuf 105, Morkel 4-52) by 33 runs by the D/L method

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In pic: Yusuf Pathan celebrates his second ODI century © AFP

Hashim Amla's century was his sixth in ODIs in the last 12 months © Associated Press Enlarge

Yusuf Pathan launched the sort of assault that has made him a rich man to ensure it wasn't all one-way in Centurion but it wasn't enough to prevent South Africa from snatching the series with a 33-run victory. After a tough tour over the past month-and-a-half, the last day of the series seemed set to be an anti-climactic non-scrap courtesy yet another Hashim Amla century and a slew of reckless strokes from the Indians.

Yusuf, though, blasted a century of utter violence when all looked lost, and after an hour of Yusuf, the South African bowling was looking clueless and India were 49 short, dreaming of a miraculous win. Yusuf clubbed a 68-ball century but holed out soon after, much to the relief of the Sunday crowd at Supersport Park.

The tour had begun with South Africa's crushing Test victory in Centurion and ends with another defeat for the visitors at the same venue. One reason India's bowlers will be thrilled to be heading back home will be that there will be less sparring with Amla, who has plundered more than 1100 runs in the past 11 months against India in Tests and one-dayers. He collected another 116 on Sunday to push South Africa to a tall total in a rain-hit match.

MS Dhoni had chosen to bowl on winning the toss, perhaps swayed by Supersport Park's reputation of being a ground where it is easy to chase in day games. No matter what the past record, though, it is unlikely any team can win when its top-order combusts so spectacularly and heedlessly as India's did. Barring Virat Kohli, the rest of the top six were dismissed not by unplayable deliveries but by attempts at extravagant strokes.

Rohit Sharma's horror series ended as he was bowled by Lonwabo Tsotsobe going for a loose drive through the line; Dhoni's imperious cut ended as an edge to first slip; Yuvraj Singh edged two boundaries to third man before giving catching practice to JP Duminy at point; Suresh Raina smashed a couple of fours before an upper cut sailed to third man; Parthiv Patel was the only one in the top order to inspire confidence, middling nearly every ball for the second innings in a row before falling to a debatable diving catch by Faf du Plessis at cover. India were 74 for 6 in the 14th over, and their only hope of saving the series seemed to be if the ominous clouds circling the stadium brought a massive downpour which washed away the match before the 20th over.

Enter Yusuf. He fell over reverse-sweeping Robin Peterson for a six early in his innings, but the wickets kept tumbling and India slid to 119 for 8. With Zaheer Khan adopting a blithe step-away-and-swing approach, the end seemed minutes away, but he knuckled down after some initial scares and kept turning the strike over to Yusuf.

Indian fans would have nursed little hopes even when bursts of hitting took Yusuf to 66 off 58, and India moved to 175 for 8 in the 33rd over. That all changed as Yusuf pounded three sixes and three fours in the next three overs to race to his century, and a 21-run over from Tsotsobe brought the required-rate below five. Yusuf skied another attempted blast down the ground, and du Plessis latched on to it to settle South African nerves.

Yusuf's ton was in absolute contrast to Amla's in the morning, when the South African chose patience over pyrotechnics to coolly compile his runs - he reached his half-century on the back of 30 consecutive singles. After Graeme Smith's troubles against Zaheer Khan continued - again unsure of how the ball will jag around, he nicked to second slip - Amla let No. 3 Morne van Wyk be the aggressor.

van Wyk grew in confidence as his innings progressed, unleashing a series of powerful cuts whenever he was given width, and even pulling off an audacious lap-shot off Munaf Patel for four.

India went in with only two quick bowlers, and their armada of spinners didn't pose too many questions to the South African batsmen. South Africa glided to 113 for 1 before Yuvraj plucked a spectacular caught-and-bowled to send back van Wyk, and had AB de Villiers stumped with a sharply turning delivery.

Amla and Duminy, the home side's two form batsmen this series, both had lives - Duminy surviving a close lbw shout and Amla dropped at square leg - and revived South Africa with a 102-run stand. The standout shot in Amla's innings was the dab to third man, perfectly timing the ball as he opened the face to pick up several boundaries, one of which brought up his century.

In the four overs that remained after an 80-minute stoppage, South Africa lost their heads and plenty of wickets as panicky running, smart bowling and attempted slogging combined to result in a collapse of 6 for 24. Amla played only two deliveries in those last four overs. India went into lunch on a high, but there was little joy for them after the break till Yusuf's heroics, and their dreams of a maiden series win in South Africa were shattered. -ESPNcricinfo

Ruthless SA win by 135 runs

South Africa 289 for 9 (de Villiers 76, Duminy 73, Amla 50) beat India 154 (Kohli 54, Tsotsobe 4-31) by 135 runs

In pic: AB de Villiers' 76 off 69 balls set up what turned out to be a winning total of 289 for South Africa © Getty Images

India had to survive the new ball if they were going to make a fist of chasing 290 but they were gasping for breath within 11 overs, after slipping to 43 for 4, and never quite recovered. South Africa had threatened twice to run away to a mammoth total in their innings. India pulled them back on both occasions to keep the target below 300, but the chase went nowhere. South Africa were 82 for 2 in the 14th over before Munaf Patel removed Hashim Amla to slow the innings down, but the hosts bounced back to reach 213 for 3 in the 36th over, when AB de Villiers fell and India clawed their way back once again.

The ball was expected to do a bit under lights and the top order, barring Virat Kohli, collapsed without much fight. The dismissal of Yuvraj Singh perfectly captured South Africa's dominance on a bouncy track. Morne Morkel got one to kick up and jag away from Yuvraj, who got his feet into an awful tangle, and ended up stabbing the ball to second slip.

It was that kind of a night: the India batsmen struggled to adapt to the conditions and they went down in a heap. M Vijay was trapped in front in the first over of the innings by a full delivery from Dale Steyn and Sachin Tendulkar perished to a pre-determined move to shuffle across his stumps. There was a short fine-leg in place for Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Tendulkar moved across to drag a short-of-length delivery past that fielder but only succeeded in top-edging a dolly to Steyn.

India recovered from 13 for 2 to reach 41 without further damage but a double strike by Morne Morkel pushed them further back. Morne had hustled and hurried Rohit Sharma into having a few injudicious wafts outside off but Rohit was eventually unlucky to be given out, caught behind by AB de Villiers. It was a gem of a delivery that kicked up and straightened just outside off and Rohit hit his pad with the bat as he pushed inside the line but the umpire mistook the sound for an edge.

Yuvraj Singh proved a walking wicket in these seaming conditions and India were left staring down the barrel after MS Dhoni's run out just before the half-way mark. Kohli hit a straight drive but the bowler Wayne Parnell got a hand on it to accidentally run out Dhoni and leave India with a mountain to climb. Kohli hung around for a while but once he fell to Steyn, the lower order just crumbled.

South Africa's bowlers blew away India but it was their batsmen who set up the win. It was a fascinating late afternoon at Durban after Amla's exit. There was an imminent threat of a collapse in the air: South Africa had a long tail, JP Duminy can be an iffy starter against spin and the ball was starting to stop on the batsman a touch. de Villiers and Duminy initially batted like men who were aware of these threats. They added 47 runs in a little over 12 overs and the hosts had reached 132 for 3 in 25.4 overs when a single shot turned things around for them. de Villiers charged down the track to Harbhajan Singh and didn't quite seem to connect well, but his sliced golf-shot sent the ball into the screaming fans beyond long-off. When Duminy slog-swept Yuvraj Singh for a six in the next over, it was official: they had broken free of the shackles.

They followed it up with a smart move: they took the Batting Powerplay in the 28th over and looted 45 runs of the five overs. de Villiers made 28 of them, with a hat-trick of fours - a pull, a skillful inside-out hit over cover, and a slice over point - against Ashish Nehra in the final Powerplay over to leave South Africa sitting pretty at 192 for 3.

Things were looking dire for India and Dhoni decided to bring in part-time spinners Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. de Villiers pulled Rohit straight to deep midwicket in the 36th over, David Miller played inside the line to lose his off stump against Raina in the 39th, and then in the 42nd Duminy missed a reverse sweep and was trapped in front by Rohit. The tail didn't have the skill to add too many and South Africa meandered towards the end of their innings.

It was quite a contrast to the frenetic start to the innings, with Amla going after Nehra in some style. The bat-speed was rapid, and time and again he played on the up and through the line. There were some trademark cover drives on a stretched front foot and the highlight was the hat-trick of fours he unleashed against Nehra in the seventh over. Amla whacked a short ball to the midwicket boundary, then walked down the pitch to lace a length delivery to the left of mid-off before he pinged that region with an off drive. There was a caressed straight drive for three runs in the same over and he put away couple of slower ones from Munaf for boundaries. His dismissal put pressure on the middle order but de Villiers and Duminy ensured that their bowlers had a score to defend. -ESPNcricinfo

India on a high ahead of ODI series against SA

DURBAN: Injury-hit but on a roll after drawing an engrossing Test series and winning the only Twenty20 match of the tour, India now get a chance to try different combinations before next month's World Cup when they take on South Africa in a five-match one-day series starting here tomorrow.


In pic: Sachin Tendulkar prepares for the first ODI against South Africa on January 12 © AFP

Dubbed challenging to start with, the African safari has been reasonably successful for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men, who avoided a Test series loss in the country for the first time earlier this month. But there have been problems to deal with and they have mostly been about players' fitness.

Already missing key players such as Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, the injury list has only grown longer with the pace duo of Praveen Kumar and S Sreesanth in doubt for tomorrow due to hand and elbow problems respectively. It is the final ODI series that India and South Africa play before the World Cup starting February 19 and both the sides would look to settle their squads for the big event through these five matches.

The series is a golden opportunity for the likes of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina to make a case for World Cup selection. They did well for themselves and the team by guiding India to a fine 21-run win in the Twenty20 match on Sunday with valuable batting contributions. The absence of biggies such as Sehwag and Gambhir now gives them an opportunity to hog the limelight in the ODIs as well but also creates the pressure of performing and performing consistently.

The series will see the return of the iconic Sachin Tendulkar to the Indian one-day fold after close to a year. The last time he played an ODI, Tendulkar became the first batsman in the history of the game's format to strike a double hundred. The opposition in that historic match at Gwalior also happened to be South Africa and Graeme Smith and his men would be praying that the champion batsman does not do an encore.

For the off-colour Yuvraj Singh, it is the final chance to convince the selectors that he is the same destructive force which won India many a matches before the stunning slump of form.

On the bowling front, the ever-reliable Zaheer Khan will spearhead the attack after being rested for Sunday's Twenty20 international but his back-up seems a little weak given the uncertainty over the availability of Sreesanth and Praveen. In case the injured duo is ruled out, Ashish Nehra and the rather inconsistent Munaf Patel would be the options for India. Harbhajan Singh will as usual shoulder the spin responsibilities.

South Africa, on the other hand, would be, missing prolific all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who is nursing an injury. The veteran has been the rock around whom the South African batting has revolved as was evident during the drawn Test series. But the Proteas still have a good batting reserve with skipper Graeme Smith, the explosive duo of A B de Villiers and JP Duminy and the consistent Hashim Amla to anchor the middle-order.

As for bowling, Dale Steyn has been in red hot form and has Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell as his speed partners. All eyes will also be on the 31-year-old Pakistan-born spinner Imran Tahir, who is expected to make his debut after getting South African citizenship a few weeks ago.

The Teams (from): India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/keeper), Sachin Tendulkar, Murali Vijay, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, S Sreesanth.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wicketkeeper), Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Colin Ingram, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Umpires: Brian Jerling (RSA), Simon Taufel (AUS)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA) Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

Match starts: 1800 hrs (IST) Live on Ten Cricket and DD National -PTI

Zaheer, Harbhajan helps India take 74-run lead

South Africa 131 for 10 (Amla 33) trail India 205 (Steyn 6-50) by 74 runs

Zaheer Khan's return made an immediate impact as Graeme Smith departed early allowing India to test South Africa's middle order © AFP

Zaheer Khan showed how important he was to the Indian attack by removing both openers on the second morning in Durban as India fought back after a ruthless performance from South Africa's quicks. The fortuitous run-out of Jacques Kallis boosted them further, before a hitherto off-colour Sreesanth produced a jaffa to remove the in-form AB de Villiers.

On the first day, the track had plenty of juice making life difficult for the Indian batsmen, but with the sun shining on the second day, they expected an easier time - only for eight wickets to fall for 96 runs before lunch. The first four of those were the Indian tail-enders, which didn't tilt the game's balance much, but the remaining were South African top-order dismissals which helped India level the match.

Zaheer was accurate, extracting movement and frequently mouthing off at the batsmen. He had little support though, with Sreesanth wasting the new ball by regularly bowling down the leg. Zaheer stuck at it, and was rewarded with the wicket of Graeme Smith - for the 10th time in Tests - as a leaden-footed prod ended in MS Dhoni's gloves.

Alviro Petersen had begun fluently, dining on the freebies from Sreesanth, but like other batsmen in this match, he too didn't convert his start. On 24, he walked across to a Zaheer delivery and looked to work it towards the leg-side but the ball deflected onto the leg stump off his pad.

If there were any worries in the South African camp, they were doused by the soothing sight of Hashim Amla, continuing to be in supreme form, highlighted by a backfoot cover drive off Ishant Sharma. Kallis had also picked up a couple of early boundaries, and with ten minutes to lunch South Africa were looking good to end the session without further casualties.

That wasn't to be, though, as Ishant half-fielded a drive from Amla, the ball was parried onto the stumps at the non-striker's end, catching a diving Kallis short. Worse followed for South Africa, when de Villiers was taken out by a ripper from Sreesanth, bouncing sharply and cutting away to surprise the batsman, who thumbed it to the keeper.

India's batsmen had struggled as well earlier on. Much depended on the overnight pair of Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni but neither inspired much confidence: Harbhajan was reprieved at second slip by Kallis in the second over of the day, and Dhoni was worked over by Steyn in the next. Harbhajan kept prodding at deliveries outside off, and was dismissed soon after, snaffled brilliantly by de Villiers at third slip. Zaheer followed, stuck on the crease to a full ball and nicking it to the keeper.

Dhoni decided to go after the bowling, smashing Steyn for a six over long-off, one ball after top-edging an attempted pull over the keeper. The counterattack was brief as he holed out to sweeper cover for 35 to give Steyn his sixth wicket of the innings. Two deliveries later, Sreesanth picked up a golden duck, a wild swing swirling high and landing in Mark Boucher's gloves.- Cricinfo

Smith, Amla cleared to play in series opener against India

In what should please South Africa no end, skipper Graeme Smith and in-form batsman Hashim Amla have been cleared to play in the first Test of the three-match series against India starting Thursday in Centurion. "Graeme's hand is good. Doctors have cleared him and he's ready to go. He's confident and looking forward to this week's preparation. We just hope that we can get out there and prepare," said coach Corrie van Zyl. "Hashim seems to be fine and started his preparations last week," van Zyl was quoted as saying by 'Times Live'.

In pic: South Africa captain Graeme Smith (R) and Hashim Amla

Injuries to both the players during last month's series against Pakistan in UAE cast doubts over their participation in the clash against the world number one side. While the ring finger on Smith's left hand was broken in the first ODI against Pakistan, Amla was struck on the left wrist while fielding in the last day of the second Test against the same opponents. -PTI