Daijiworld Media Network
Kanpur, Oct 11 : South Africa have now recorded the highest team total ever at this venue. They scored 109 runs in the last 10 overs and 65 of them came in the last 5 overs. India's problem with the death-bowling continues. AB de Villiers took 54 balls to score his first 50 runs, but he needed just 19 more to score his next 53 runs
AB de Villiers made the most of a few loose deliveries, while Behardien also played a breezy cameo to propel the visitors past 300. Amit Mishra was the pick of the bowlers for India and picked up two important wickets. Umesh Yadav too bagged two, but was expensive towards the end. Generally, the mid-innings break in ODIs is 45 minutes long, but it will be only 30 minutes for this game as the light fades quickly at Kanpur in the evening. A big challenge for India. This will be a rcord chase at this venue if they pull it off. Interestingly, they have this stat to lift the mood in the dressing room. Four out of five games here have been won by the team batting second.
Openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock got the side off to a good start. Faf du Plessis played a handy knock and registered a fifty, but it was AB de Villiers, who held the innings together. Ravichandran Ashwin was bowling very well to the South African captain in particular, but he had to go off the field after bowling just 22 balls in his quota of 10 overs. That was a huge blow for India as they lost their premier bowler. He returned to the field after a while, but went back again after bowling one more over. The fast bowlers couldn't do the job towards the end and leaked too many runs.
AB de Villiers: 'The Indian public is way too good for me and I love coming here. We would now love to have a good innings with the ball in hand. The wicket was hard for the first 90 odd runs, I worked really hard initially. I thought Hash (Amla) and Quinny (de Kock) batted well up front. It will be nice to see Dale (Steyn) and Morne (Morkel) running in again, hopefully we can take a few early wickets and put them under pressure.'