The least important match of the tournament produced the most excitement

Wisden Bulletin by S Rajesh28-Jul-2005The least important match of the tournament produced the most excitement,but South Africa got over their early jitters and chased the target of 216with five wickets and eight balls to spare. It avenged their humiliatingloss to India earlier in the tournament, and set up the prospect of afascinating final on Sunday.It was the hottest day of the tournament, with temperatures reaching themid-40s (Celsius), but South Africa put in a disciplined performance in thefield after losing the toss to restrict India to 215. Then, they survived acollapse at the start of their innings to romp home with plenty to spare.The hero of the day was Neil McKenzie. Coming to the crease with SouthAfrica tottering at 42 for 3 and Harbhajan Singh on the rampage, he compiledtwo partnerships – 63 with Jacques Rudolph, and 107 with Mark Boucher -which snatched the match away from India. By the time McKenzie was out foran excellent 80, South Africa were just five short of victory.South Africa’s run-chase encountered early roadblocks, in the form of India’s opening bowlers. Avishkar Salvi’s disconcerting bounce and Ajit Agarkar’sconsistent line and awayswing asked plenty of questions of Graeme Smith andHerschelle Gibbs. Smith succumbed early, nicking a drive off Avishkar Salvito the wicketkeeper for 2 (11 for 1). Gibbs got a lucky escape when he edgeda no-ball from Salvi to Virender Sehwag at slip, but the reprieve wasshortlived.Harbhajan came into the attack in the 12th over and struck twice in hisfirst four balls. The second one sneaked between Boeta Dippenaar’s bat andpad and knocked back the bails (41 for 2), while two balls later, Gibbsshouldered arms to an offspinner and was trapped plumb in front (42 for 2).Rudolph and McKenzie began the fightback with a carefully constructed stand. Rudolph was especially impressive, with crisp drives down the groundand through cover. McKenzie, on the other hand, plonked his front footoutside off and swept whenever in doubt.Virender Sehwag ended the partnership when Rudolph (37) edged a flick toMohammad Kaif at cover (105 for 4), but Boucher scotched any hopes of anIndian fightback. Both he and McKenzie consolidated with plenty of well-runsingles, never allowing the asking rate to climb beyond six-and-a-half anover.Then, when South Africa were sufficiently close to the target, McKenzie andBoucher stepped it up. The 41st over, bowled by Agarkar, went for 13, whileSehwag was tonked for 12 in the 43rd. The asking rate came down to underfour-and-a-half, and from there the winner was never in doubt.India’s effort with the bat was characterised by plenty of batsmen gettingstarts, but apart from Ganguly – who top-scored with 61 – none of themtopped 30. Mahkaya Ntini was the pick of the bowlers, bowling with plenty ofhostility on a pitch which had a sprinkling of live grass. His returns of 3for 37 from 10 overs were richly deserved. Allan Dawson had a profitable daytoo, picking up four scalps.In a scorching opening spell, Ntini first had Gambhir edging to Andrew Hallat first slip (7 for 1), and then dealt the Indian innings a huge blow,striking Sehwag on his right forearm with a wicked short delivery andforcing him to retire.Ganguly was peppered by plenty of short stuff – especially by Ntini – but heresponded in style, pulling Ntini for a couple of fours and cracking himthough point when offered the width. His 64-run second-wicket stand withKaif was the best phase of the Indian innings. Kaif ran the ones and twoswith usual urgency, and laced a couple of gorgeous cover-drives when Dawsonpitched it up.Dawson got his revenge, though, when Kaif, inside-edged a slower ball ontohis stumps for 30 (96 for 2). Ganguly kept the innings going, bringing uphis half-century off 74 balls, and then tonking Adams over his head for thefirst six of the match.A century seemed there for the taking, but Ganguly threw it away, hammeringa full-toss from Adams straight down Shaun Pollock’s throat at long-off (124for 3). The Indian innings unravelled after that, as six wickets fell forjust 68 runs.Sehwag made a return to the crease at the fall of the fourth wicket afterx-rays revealed no broken bones, and even managed a rousing front-foot sixover point off Andrew Hall, but it was too good to last. Next ball, anattempted across-the-line short-arm jab took the top edge and presentedSmith with a dolly (160 for 5).Four wickets then fell in a heap, and it needed a 23-run last-wicketpartnership for India to top 200. For a brief period, it seemed sufficient.Then, McKenzie got his act together.