Top 5 India-South Africa ODI encounters

#3 Jaipur, 2010

The Indian players celebrate after winning a nail-biting game

South Africa’s tour of India in 2010 is remembered for Sachin Tendulkar’s majestic 200 (first player to score a double ton in ODIs). However, the first game of that ODI series was a thriller.

South Africa won the toss and elected to field first. India got off to a bad start as Sachin Tendulkar was runout in the second over. However, Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik batted fluently as they took the attack to the South African pacers, but wickets at regular intervals kept the visitors in the game. Most of India’s batsmen got off to good starts but failed to build on as they could only manage 298 in their 50 overs even after reaching 200 in the 35th over.

In reply, South Africa got off to a solid start as Gibbs and Bosman stitched a 58-run opening stand. But some accurate bowling and good fielding helped India gain total control of the game as South Africa slipped to 180/7.

Kallis, though, didn’t give up as he scored a well-made 89 before being dismissed in the 43rd over. At stage (225/8), the game seemed dead and buried. However, Wayne Parnell (49) and Dale Steyn (35) kept South Africa alive as they brought the equation down to 10 runs off the final over.

Praveen Kumar bowled the final over and dismissed Steyn on the second ball of the over. He had conceded only 3 in the first 4 deliveries, but a three and a wide brought it down to 3 off the final delivery. On the last ball, Parnell edged the ball to third man and set off for the second to tie the game, but MS Dhoni kept his cool and broke the stumps (even after a poor throw from Sreesanth) to help India win the game by 1 run.

Brief Scores: India 298 for 9 (Raina 58, Sehwag 46, Karthik 44, Kallis 3-29) beat South Africa 297 (Kallis 89, Parnell 49, Steyn 35, Jadeja 2-29, Praveen Kumar 2/46)