By IANS
Belfast (Northern Ireland) : Sachin Tendulkar's 99 went in vain as captain Jacques Kallis's unbeaten 91 steered South Africa to a four-wicket win over India in the first One-day International of the Future Cup here Tuesday.
Batting at No. 3 Kallis (116 balls, 6x4s) batted till the end to help South Africa win with three balls to spare. Chasing India's 242 for eight wickets in 50 overs, South Africa finished at 245 for six in 49.3 overs. Vernon Philander was the other unbeaten batsman at 17.
The Indian camp was badly hit by viral fever with a majority of the 15-member team being uncertain Monday for the first match at the Civil Service Cricket Club ground in Stormont. The illness forced the team to call for three replacements.
Tendulkar, who was not affected by the fever, played 143 balls and hit 12 boundaries before being run out while taking the 100th run.
Earlier, Kallis won the toss and asked India to take the first strike. Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly took their own time in cold and windy conditions to get used to the pitch and the rival's all-pace bowling attack.
The slow scoring rate seems to have frustrated Ganguly so much that he played an indiscreet shot to become the first victim. He was caught by wicket-keeper Mark Boucher off Andre Nel.
Gautam Gambhir, another left-hander like Ganguly, also departed quickly, in the 12th over. He even failed to open his account as the South Africans increased their domination.
His exit laid the platform for Tendulkar and Dravid to resurrect the innings and they were successful in their endeavour. The team's two most experienced batsmen played percentage cricket to accumulate runs as run scoring was difficult against some tight bowling by South African pacers.
Batting according to the situation, they refrained from trying anything extraordinary, ran their singles and twos briskly and gradually built the partnership.
The first 50 of the partnership came off 82 balls. Then, Tendulkar completed his career's 78th half-century off 95 balls and with help from six boundaries.
Even till India reached 100 the going was so slow that they needed 50 more balls to reach that figure.
Dravid, who by then was well set, reached his career's 79th half-century off 71 balls (3x4s) as the partnership continued to grow in strength. And, interestingly, when India reached 150, Dravid and Tendulkar's share was 72 runs each.
Tendulkar was eventually run out while attempting a tight second run that would have given him his 42nd century. But before he was run out by the brilliant throw from Morne van Wyk, he and Dravid had added 158 precious runs for the third wicket.
When Tendulkar was out, India were 211 for four. But after that wickets started falling quickly. Yuvraj Singh managed 13 off 12 balls and Dinesh Kaarthick scored an enterprising 19 off 10 balls before failing in his attempt to play an ambitious square cut and getting castled.
Talented youngster Rohit Sharma, who got to bat for the first time in his second ODI, scored eight before getting out in the last over of the innings.
Pacer Andre Nel took three wickets while Andrew Hall and Jacques Kallis bagged two wickets apiece.
Chasing, A.B. de Villiers (24) and Morne van Wyk (44, 55 balls, 6x4s), who had hit a half-century against Ireland Sunday, gave a sound start to South Africa with their 56-run stand.
Left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh broke the stand when he forced de Villiers to edge a delivery to wicket-keeper Karthik. Earlier in that over, Tendulkar at wide slip had dropped the batsman's uppish cut despite timing his jump to perfection. De Villiers was on 22 then.
Then, teenaged leg-spinner Piyush Chawla bowled two beautiful deliveries in successive overs to reduce South Africa to 107 for three from 99 for one.
The Uttar Pradesh spinner first deceived van Wyk who managed to give a catch to Sharma at short extra cover. In his next over, he bowled Herschelle Gibbs when the right-hander completely missed the line.
Jean-Paul Duminy's exit soon after that spelt more trouble for South Africa. He tried to send off-spinner Ramesh Powar out of the ground, but only managed giving a catch to Tendulkar at deep square leg.
At the halfway stage of the innings, South Africa were 124 for four.
The Proteas were a bit unlucky to lose Mark Boucher (23) leg before the wicket as left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan's delivery had pitched outside the leg stump. Television replays suggested that the ball would also have sailed over the wicket.
Kallis, who was keeping the other end going, and Andrew Hall then added 25 before Chawla return to strike. Hall drove a leg-break delivery straight to cover where Dravid took the catch off the second attempt. South Africa: 190 for six.
Kallis and Vernon Philander took the team home with some sensible batting as the Indians seemed to have given up towards the end.
SCOREBOARD
1st One-day International, Future Cup, India vs. South Africa, Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast, June 26
India:
Sourav Ganguly c Boucher b Nel 13
Sachin Tendulkar run out (van Wyk/Boucher) 99
Gautam Gambhir c Kallis b Nel 0
Rahul Dravid b Nel 74
Yuvraj Singh c Kallis b Hall 13
Dinesh Karthik b Hall 19
Rohit Sharma b Kallis 8
Piyush Chawla not out 2
Ramesh Powar c de Villiers b Kallis 1
Extras: (byes 4, leg byes 2, wides 5, no balls 2) 13
Total: (for 8 wickets in 50 overs) 242
Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Ganguly, 7.2 overs), 2-36 (Gambhir, 11.1), 3-194 (Dravid, 43.2), 4-211 (Tendulkar, 45.3), 5-213 (Yuvraj, 46.1), 6-234 (Karthik, 48.3), 7-240 (Sharma, 49.2), 8-242 (Powar, 49.6)
Bowling:
Makhaya Ntini 10 2 33 0
Charl Langeveldt 8 0 59 0 (1nb, 1w)
Andre Nel 10 1 47 3 (2w)
Andrew Hall 10 1 40 2
Vernon Philander 8 2 37 0
Jacques Kallis 4 0 20 2 (2w)
South Africa:
A.B. de Villiers c Karthik b R.P. Singh 24
Morne van Wyk c Sharma b Chawla 44
Jacques Kallis not out 91
Herschelle Gibbs b Chawla 5
Jean-Paul Duminy c Tendulkar b Powar 11
Mark Boucher lbw b Khan 23
Andrew Hall c Dravid b Chawla 16
Vernon Philander not out 17
Extras: (lb 4, w 10) 14
Total: (for six wickets in 49.3 overs) 254
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (de Villiers, 12.5 overs), 2-99 (van Wyk, 19.5), 3-107 (Gibbs, 21.1), 4-124 (Duminy, 24.5), 5-165 (Boucher, 34.3), 6-190 (Hall, 39.4)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 10 1 46 1
Rudra Pratap Singh 8 0 45 1 (6w)
Sourav Ganguly 4 0 26 0
Piyush Chawla 10 0 47 3 (1w)
Ramesh Powar 10 0 39 1
Yuvraj Singh 6.3 0 35 0 (1w)
Rohit Sharma 1 0 3 0
Result: South Africa won by four wickets
Man of the Match: Jacques Kallis
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Mark Benson (England)
TV umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand)
Match referee: Alan Hurst (Australia)