SA Wrest Psychological Advantage

A rejuvenated South Africa dented India's morale ahead of Sunday's summit showdown with a comfortable 5-wicket victory in the last TVS Cup league match at the BangabandhuStadium today.

Chasing a modest 216 for victory, the South Africans rode on Neil McKenzie's controlled 84-run knock to reach the targetin 48.4 overs with five wickets in hand to halt India's winning streak in the tournament in a thrilling floodlitcontest.

The Proteas did well to recover from the early jolts which had raised hopes of an Indian fightback as McKenzieturned the tables against the World Cup finalists in a sensible knock which came off 110 balls and contained fivehits to the fence.

McKenzie put on 107 runs for the fifth wicket with Mark Boucher who remained unbeaten on 44. Jacques Rudolph was theother notable contributor, scoring 37 runs.

McKenzie was dismissed in the 48th over with South Africa needing just four more runs to victory, was caught byAvishkar Salvi to become Harbhajan Singh's 100th one-day victim.

Earlier, the Indian batting faltered for the first time in the tournament and could manage only a modest score of 215before being all out in 49.1 overs. Saurav Ganguly top-scored with 61 but the other batsmen had nothing much to offer.

For South Africa, Allan Dawson claimed four wickets while Makhaya Ntini took three. 

In what was seen as a dress rehearsal before the two teams meet again in the final on Sunday, the South Africansoutplayed the Indians in all departments of the game to gain a psychological advantage ahead of the title clash.

The South Africans received a big jolt early in the innings with captain Graeme Smith, who never really lookedcomfortable during his brief stay at the crease, falling in the fifth over to Salvi. Wicket keeper Parthiv Patel held onto the faint inside edge to send Smith back to the pavilion for just two.

The two Indian new ball operators Salvi and Ajit Agarkar bowled a tidy spell to keep the South Africans quiet, thoughopener Herschelle Gibbs did play a few attacking shots off Agarkar.

Gibbs struck two consecutive boundaries in Agarkar's third over and another couple boundaries in a subsequent overas he tried to rebuild the innings alongwith Boeta Dippenaar.

Ganguly introduced Harbhajan as early as the 12th over and he produced a dramatic first over by getting rid of Dippenaar and dangerman Gibbs within the span of three deliveries.

Harbhajan bowled Dippenaar (11) and then trapped Gibbs (25) leg before wicket with a lovely delivery to bring theIndians back into the game, as the South Africans slid to 42 for three.

Left-handed Rudolph, who scored his maiden half-century against Bangladesh yesterday, and McKenzie then tried toperform the salvage job by playing cautiously against the spinners.

The two batsmen put on 63 runs for the fourth wicket taking South Africa to 105 before part-timer Virender Sehwagstruck for his team by removing Rudolph who was showing signs of playing a big knock.

But McKenzie and Boucher poured water over India's plans as they accelerated the pace of scoring which had dropped downconsiderably at the half way stage.

Agarkar, who returned for his second spell in the 40th over, gave away 14 runs in that over which tilted the balancein South Africa's favour at that stage since they had six wickets in hand.

Earlier, Ganguly scored a classy 61 off 83 balls but none of the other top order batsmen could consolidate after gettingthe starts against a disciplined South African bowling attack on a track which was not conducive forstrokeplay.

The Indians were cruising along comfortably at 96-1 but the innings fell into disarray after Ganguly's dismissal asthe other batsmen failed to rise to the occasion. It was a little cameo from tailender Sarandeep Singh which helped Indiato cross the 200-mark which looked doubtful at one stage.

After a losing opener Gautam Gambhir with just seven runs on the board, Ganguly gave an exhibition of controlledaggression as he notched up his 51st half-century in one day internationals.

Sehwag and Ganguly consolidated the position for the team without taking too many risks but never lost the opportunity to despatch the loose balls to the boundary before the dashing opener had to retire hurt after getting a nastyblow on his right elbow off Ntini.

Mohammad Kaif carried on the good work to take the total to 96 before falling as the first victim of Dawson for 30which came of 49 balls.

The departure of Kaif virtually opened up the floodgates as the Indians lost wickets at regular intervals and eventually failed to play out their full quota of 50 overs.

PTI