India v South Africa – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Twenty20 2012 (24th match - Group 2) – Match Recap [Part 1]
Having already been knocked out of the tournament after Pakistan beat Australia earlier in the day, South Africa took India down with them as they ensured http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Thomas-George-Burrows-c93472heir opponents didn’t qualify either, before going on to concede a narrow 1-run defeat to the Men in Blue in the final Super Eights match of the ongoing ICC World Twenty20, played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on October 2.
On what proved to be a decisive day in the ongoing World T20, Pakistan and Australia battled it out at the R Premadasa earlier in the day, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750-South Africa clash scheduled for the evening.
While Pakistan’s victory ensured that the Proteas were knocked out of the tournament, India still had a chance to qualify and knock http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 out – having been put to bat first and having posted a total of 152, the Men In Blue had a chance of making the semis provided they restricted South Africa to 121. However, the Proteas were determined to go down fighting.
The tone of the match was set for the Men in Blue after they lost the toss – India would undoubtedly have preferred to field first as it would have granted them more control over their net run rate (which they needed to push over Pakistan's 0.273), but South Africa won the toss and put India to bat first.
Faced with the need to post a massive total and win by a margin of around 30 runs, India opened their innings with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Sehwag-c2739 (17) – however, the opening stand yielded only 23 runs, after which Gambhir was bowled by Morne Morkel (4-0-28-2) in the 4th over.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RJ-Peterson-c2332 (4-0-25-2) took care of Sehwag in the very next over, leaving India faltering at 36 for 3 by the 6th over, with the entire top-order taken care of. The loss of Kohli for such a paltry score was particularly demoralising for India, given his outstanding past performances.
India’s innings was steadied somewhat with the 32-run partnership between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/M-Morkel-c73528 intervened in the 10th over to break it up, sending Yuvraj packing.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SK-Raina-c2539 top-scored for the team with a 45-run contribution, and after his 44-run partnership with Sharma came to an end with the latter’s dismissal at the hands of Peterson, Dhoni (23*) joined Raina in setting up a 40-run stand. However, the final ball of the 20th over saw Raina run out, and India posted a mediocre total of 152 at the expense of 6 wickets.
Continued in Part 2 ...
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