Top 5 India-South Africa ODI encounters

#2 Nagpur, 2011 World Cup (Group Stage)

Tendulkar's 99th international ton (111) went in vain

With the 2011 World Cup staged in India (along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) and it being Sachin Tendulkar’s final mega-event, India were favourites and the pressure was on them to deliver. After a thumping win in the opening game (against Bangladesh) and a nail-biting tie against England, India eased past Ireland and Netherlands. South Africa were going to be tough opponents.

And in that game (in Nagpur), India opted to bat first and were in total command. After a dominating opening partnership of 142 between Sehwag (73) and Sachin, Gambhir joined the master to consolidate India’s position. Sachin scored a majestic 111 (his 99th international ton) and Gambhir made 69. But once both of them were dismissed in the batting powerplay, India completely lost the plot and collapsed. From 267/1 (in the 40th over), they were all-out for 296. Dale Steyn took 5/50 and helped the Proteas claw their way back in the game.

Even after storming back in the game, chasing 297 was going to be a tough ask. But South Africa’s top 4 kept up the required run-rate and batted well to help them reach 200 in the 38th over and they looked on course to chase the total down. Harbhajan Singh, though, brought India back in the game as he dismissed AB de Villiers (52) and Duminy (23) in consecutive overs.

The equation was 50 runs off 6 overs which was reduced to 17 off 2 overs. At that point, Zaheer Khan bowled a wonderful over and gave away only 4 runs in the penultimate over. Ashish Nehra bowled the final over with 13 runs in the bank. Robin Peterson smashed 2 fours and a six to seal the game for South Africa and helped them maintain their unbeaten World Cup record against India.

Brief Scores: India 296 all out (Tendulkar 111, Sehwag 73, Gambhir 69, Steyn 5-50) lost to South Africa 300 for 7 (Kallis 69, Amla 61, de Villiers 52, Harbhajan 3/53)