 Yuvraj fashions India's thrilling series win
2nd Jul 2007 08:12 IST
Agencies
Yuvraj Singh's unbeaten 61 helped India clinch an edge-of-the-seat thriller and beat South Africa by six wickets in Belfast for a rare cricket series triumph abroad on Sunday.
Chasing 149 to win in 31 overs in the rain-curtailed series decider, India faltered and fumbled before picking up themselves to reach 152/4 in 30.2 overs.
Yuvraj top scored with unbeaten gutsy innings of 61 off 85 balls that included six boundaries besides a six, while Rahul Dravid contributed 36.
After Dravid left the scene (108/4), Yuvraj and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (14 not out) put their heads down to negotiate the daunting run-a-ball chase.
Earlier, India reduced their opponents to 28/4 but a 99-run stand between Justin Kemp (61) and Herschelle Gibbs (56) propped up South Africa for a decent total of 148/7 in 31 overs.
With the series levelled at 1-1, all eyes were on the final match but due to rain and wet outfield, the match was reduced to a 31-over-a-side contest.
And if South Africa had a disastrous beginning after being asked to take first strike in the seaming friendly condition, it was no different with India. Sourav Ganguly (17) and Sachin Tendulkar (8), who had laid the foundation for India's win in the previous match with a century stand, got a life each but could not capitalise on that.
Tendulkar was lucky to have edged one through slips and still got away with a boundary but it took just four deliveries for Makhaya Ntini to settle the score. Tendulkar nicked the last ball of the second over to see an airborne Mark Boucher pull off a one-handed blinder.
Gautam Gambhir (5) survived a mix-up with Ganguly before plotting his own peril by dragging a Dale Steyn delivery onto his stumps and crisis compounded when Ganguly, dropped by Jacques Kallis while batting on one, too departed, leaving India reeling at 38/3 inside nine overs.
India were in dire need of a solid partnership but both Yuvraj and Dravid hardly looked convincing.
Yuvraj too was dropped in the slips off Kallis, while Dravid found the all-pace South African attack too hot to handle. But to their credit, both hung on, swapping glitz for grit.
Dravid hit his counterpart Kallis for three boundaries in the 23rd over to take India past the 100-mark before throwing away his wicket.
Responding to Yuvraj's call for a quick single, Dravid was virtually strolling to the non-striker end only to see a Boucher throw disturb the stumps. It was a rare casual lapse on Dravid's part who did not even ground his bat.
Yuvraj, however, kept his cool and milked the South African attack. He waited for the right opportunity and ran hard between the wickets. The dashing left-hander never allowed the pressure get the better of him and came up with a match-winning knock that also earned him the Man of the Match award.
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