Third Test ends in a draw after India's defensive tactics
The third and final Test match between India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 ended in a draw, after the visitors managed to survive some spirited bowling from the home side. India scored 166 runs in 82 overs yesterday and lost just three wickets.
The Indian team was expected to attack in the morning session through opening batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429. However, the team feared the South African pace attack, and went on the defensive from the very first ball of the day.
There was an early blow for the Indians when Sehwag got out after scoring just 11 runs. The total at the time was 27. Sehwag, contrary to his natural style, consumed too many balls and which contributed to his down fall. It took him 40 balls to score his
runs, and he struck just two boundaries in his innings.
The next batsman in was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 slowly took India through to lunch. Dravid was a bit fortunate at the start of his innings, as he escaped a close leg-before-wicket (LBW) shout.
The replays suggested that the ball would have hit the stumps, and if the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) was used in the series, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 would have been in trouble. Luckily for Dravid, UDRS was not used in this series, and South Africa were denied a
wicket.
Dravid eventually got out after scoring 31 runs. Gambhir continued on though, and scored a half century to ensure that his team was out of trouble. He got out after scoring 64 runs. The wicket of Gambhir brought http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 to the crease, along with Sachin
Tendulkar. Both the veteran batsmen took the team to safety and ended the day without any further losses.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morne-Morkel-c77722 got one wicket each in the second innings. Paul Harris was expected to cause some trouble to the Indian batsmen, but he remained wicket-less in his 30 overs. He was a bit unlucky though, as a couple of catches
were dropped off his bowling.
The man of the match, and series award went to Jacques Kallis, who rescued the Proteas with two brilliant centuries in the last Test. He also scored a double-ton earlier in the series, and chipped in with a few wickets in the series as well.
The series ended in a draw as both teams had won a single match before the final match was drawn. The teams will now play a one-off Twenty20 match, before competing in a five-match one-day international (ODI) series.
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