Clueless Proteas Succumb Meekly

Young Mohammad Kaif led a merciless batting onslaught with an unbeaten 95 as India put up a commanding show to steamroll South Africa with a comprehensive 153-run victory in the TVS Cup triangular seriesin Dhaka today.

Kaif and left-handed Dinesh Mongia (55 not out) plundered runs at will in the slog overs to steer their team to amammoth 307 for four after electing to bat on a good batting track. Captain Saurav Ganguly provided the early sparks with acontrolled 75.

Required to score at more than six runs per over, the South Africans never recovered from the early jolts and werebundled out for 154 in 34.5 overs to give the Indians their second consecutive victory in the series.

The Indian bowlers kept the pressure on the Proteas by bowling a nagging line and length under floodlights to
supplement the good work done by the batsmen.

Kaif and Mongia set the Bangabandhu Stadium ablaze with an amazing display of strokeplay during their rollockingunbeaten 110-run fifth wicket partnership which left their opponents in a daze.

Kaif struck seven boundaries and three sixes in his knock which came off 103 balls while Mongia was more severe as hescored his 55 in just 38 balls.

The South African run chase began on a disastrous note as they lost skipper Graeme Smith in the very second over of theinnings with Ajit Agarkar providing the vital breakthrough.

Smith, the youngest ever South African captain, edged an incoming delivery on to his stumps after scoring just one run. JacquesRudoph, who joined the action after his captain's departure, did not survive long falling prey to the wilyAgarkar with Virender Sehwag taking a brilliant catch at first slip.

The two quick wickets left South Africa gasping at 13 for two by the fifth over forcing Herschelle Gibbs and BoetaDippenaar to play cautiously against the Indian speedsters.

The two put on 42 runs for the third wicket before the South African batsmen made a beeline back to pavilion eventhough Zaheer Khan had pulled out of the attack with a hamstring injury.

Harbhajan Singh, who was introduced into the attack in the 14th over, struck in his very first over by getting rid ofdangerman Gibbs (26) who offered a simple return catch.

Dippenaar joined him in the pavilion soon after with Ganguly taking the wicket as the Proteas slumped to a precarious 57 for four by the 15th over. Neil McKenzie (12) and Shaun Pollock (2) also joined the list of early casualties, falling to the spinners.

Debutant leg-spinner Amit Mishra captured his first wicket in one-day internationals when he had Mckenzie caughtbehind by Parthiv Patel while Harbhajan accounted for Shaun Pollock.

The remaining batsmen tried to hang in for the remaining overs but could only succeed in delaying the inevitable.

Earlier, the Indians gave another awesome display of their batting talent to score a huge total.

The Indians were lucky not to lose the dashing Virender Sehwag in the first over by Charl Willoughby as Robin Peterson dropped a straightforward catch at square leg.

In a surprise decision Smith did not give the new ball to his predecessor Pollock, opting to use Willoughby withMakhaya Ntini instead, and the Indian openers, Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, had no difficulty in negotiating them.

The two batsmen put on 45 runs for the first wicket before Gambhir, playing his second one-day international,perished for 18. The Delhi opener, who was quite comfortable against the South African bowlers and also the more attackingof the two batsmen, tried to pull a delivery from outside the leg stump but only succeeded in edging the ball to MarkBoucher behind the stumps.

The dismissal of Gambhir saw Sehwag unleash a flurry of strokes on both sides of the wicket, forcing the South Africancaptain to introduce Allan Dawson in the first bowling change in the seventh over.

Sehwag and Ganguly added 44 runs for the second wicket before a sudden rush of blood saw the end of Sehwag'sbelligerent knock of 37 which came 44 balls and included six boundaries.

Ganguly blasted seven boundaries and two sixes during his 80-ball 75 before Kaif and Mongia took centrestage with theirfireworks in the last ten overs.

PTI