By IANS
Belfast : Sachin Tendulkar scored a strokeful 93 to complete 15,000 runs and help India to a six-wicket win over South Africa Friday, levelling the Future Cup series 1-1 with one more One-day International to go.
Yuvraj Singh also played a leading role in the win, which was achieved with five balls to spare. He took three wickets to restrict South Africa's total to 226 for six, and then helped score an entertaining 49 not out (63 balls, 4x4s, 1×6).
South Africa, invited to bat first by Rahul Dravid after he won the toss, achieved their 226 thanks to Morne van Wyk's 82, in the allotted 50 overs. India made 227 for four in 49.1 overs. Dinesh Karthik (37 balls, 1×4) chipped in with 32 and remained unbeaten.
Tendulkar (106 balls, 13x4s, 2x6s) was out in his 90s for the second time in succession, having been run out for 99 in India's four-wicket defeat here Tuesday. On Friday, his innings earned him the Man of the Match award.
Chasing at a rate of a shade over 4.53 run per over, Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (42, 75 balls, 3x4s, 1×6) gave India a solid and quite brisk start with their 134-run opening-wicket partnership.
Tendulkar was run out while taking the 100th run that would have given him his 42nd century. On Friday, he returned to the venue and started in the same vein, stroking the ball to all parts of the Civil Service Cricket Club. He also used his feet to good effect and smashed two sixes.
Tendulkar, already the world's leading run getter in ODIs, became the first man to aggregate 15,000. At the end of Friday's knock, his tally had swelled to 15,043 at 44.24 in 377 innings of 387 matches.
His has also scored a whopping 41 centuries – though the 42nd seems to be eluding him presently – and 79 half-centuries.
While Tendulkar took charge Ganguly played the second fiddle, but the Bengal batsman's knock was also important as it helped India build a partnership.
The batting conditions were not exactly ideal, though sun broke through here in Stormont at times during the match.
Ganguly was the first to go, in the 29th over, by which time the two openers had laid a solid foundation for the rest of the batsmen to build the innings on. He was out chasing a ball well outside the off stump from Charl Langeveldt and Herschelle Gibbs at point had no problem in catching the ball.
Captain Dravid (2) did not last long and Tendulkar was out in the next over, chopping a ball from Thandi Tshabalala on to his stumps, at the same score, 140. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (0), who missed the first match due to illness, also departed with the addition of just two runs to the total.
It was a bit of shock for India, but Yuvraj and Karthik stopped the collapse by being involved in a meaningful association.
Both played a few adventurous and unconventional shots, but the important things was that they also scored the runs without getting out.
Pacers Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel bowled a tight line while Charl Langeveldt took two wickets to be the most successful bowler.
Earlier, Yuvraj took three wickets to dash South Africa's hopes of putting up a big total.
The left-arm spinner's victims included Morne van Wyk (126 balls, 7x4s, 1×6), who looked in fine touch. He finally had the right-hander caught by wicket-keeper Dhoni as he tied to cut a ball that kept low.
South Africa had earlier lost two wickets for seven runs, but van Wyk steadied the ship. Later, wicket-keeper Mark Boucher made run-a-ball 55 (4x4s, 1×6) and Jean-Paul Duminy 40 (59 balls, 3x4s) to take the team to what looked like a competitive total.
Duminy and Andrew Hall were Yuvraj's other scalps.
Left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh bowled a tight line and length. He concentrated on the off stump and kept them guessing all the time.
He was also involved in the run out of A.B. de Villiers following the refusal of van Wyk to go for a single after attempting it. Singh threw straight at the non-striker's wicket where Dravid, despite not collecting in the behind the wicket, managed to break the wickets and won a third umpire verdict.
Herschelle Gibbs, after playing some bold pull shots, brought about his own downfall when he slashed hard at a wide Zaheer Khan delivery, but ended up giving an easy catch to Karthik at extra cover.
Debutante pacer Ishant Sharma of Delhi bowled seven overs without a wicket.
SCOREBOARD
2nd match, Future Cup, India vs. South Africa, Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast, June 29
South Africa:
Morne van Wyk c Dhoni b Yuvraj 82
A.B. de Villiers run out (R.P. Singh/Dravid) 0
Jacques Kallis b R.P. Singh 2
Herschelle Gibbs c Karthik b Khan 17
Jean-Paul Duminy c Dravid b Yuvraj 40
Mark Boucher not out 55
Andrew Hall b Yuvraj 17
Andre Nel not out 1
Extras: (leg byes 5, wides 5, no balls 2) 12
Total: (for six wickets in 50 overs) 226
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (de Villiers, 3.1 overs), 2-7 (Kallis, 5.2), 3-46 (Gibbs, 13.3), 4-131 (Duminy, 32.3), 5-168 (van Wyk, 40.6), 6-220 (Hall, 48.4)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 9 2 29 1
Rudra Pratap Singh 6 1 21 1 (3w)
Ishant Sharma 7 0 38 0 (2nb)
Piyush Chawla 8 0 41 0
Ramesh Powar 10 0 46 0
Sachin Tendulkar 1 0 10 0 (1w)
Yuvraj Singh 9 0 36 3
India:
Sourav Ganguly c Gibbs b Langeveldt 42
Sachin Tendulkar b Tshabalala 93
Rahul Dravid c & b Langeveldt 2
Yuvraj Singh not out 49
Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Ntini 0
Dinesh Karthik not out 32
Extras: (lb 2, w 7) 9
Total: (for four wickets in 49.1 overs) 227
Fall of wickets: 1-134 (Ganguly, 28.1 overs), 2-140 (Dravid, 30.6), 3-140 (Tendulkar, 31.5), 4-142 (Dhoni, 32.4)
Bowling:
Makhaya Ntini 10 1 37 1 (2w)
Charl Langeveldt 10 1 43 2
Andrew Nel 10 0 41 0 (1w)
Andrew Hall 10 0 54 0 (1w)
T. Tshabalala 8 2 42 1 (1w)
Jacques Kallis 1.1 0 8 0 (1w)
Result: India won by six wickets
Man of the Match: Sachin Tendulkar
Umpires: Mark Benson (England) and Billy Bowden (New Zealand)
TV umpire: Aleem Dar (Pakistan)
Match referee: Alan Hurst (Australia)