Sunday, August 1, 2010

South Africa captain Graeme Smith was left impressed after the Proteas polished off India in fine style to edge closer to top spot in the Test rankings.

The tourists cruised to an easy innings and six-run win inside four days as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side, who had conceded a first-innings lead of 325, were bowled out for 319 in their second knock, despite a defiant century from Sachin Tendulkar (100).

Spin star Paul Harris put South Africa within sight of victory by claiming three wickets, while Dale Steyn, who claimed seven wickets in the first innings, ended up with ten for the match. And Smith was delighted with his side’s ruthlessness.

“It’s been an outstanding performance from the guys, four days of clinical stuff,” Smith said.

“To win here requires a lot of discipline and hard work and the guys showed a lot of consistency,” he added before picking out some individual performances he felt were deserving of special mention.

“There were some great individual performances which deserve accolades.

“Jacques (Kallis) and Hashim (Amla) with the bat and Dale with the ball, but I think it was a great team effort.

“It is nice to have someone like Steyn.

To run in and bowl as he did was amazing.

“Harris also bowled well, he is not a fancied cricketer but he knows his role and has come back well.”

Resuming at 66 for two after being made to follow on, the hosts lost overnight batsman Murali Vijay (32) inside the first hour. Debutant Subramaniam Badrinath (six) edged Wayne Parnell to  wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.

After the dismissal of Dhoni for 25 in the post-lunch session, Harbhajan Singh hit a run-a-ball 39 with six fours and a six to provide some cheer to Indian fans before curtains were drawn on the innings.

India’s lone resistance came from Tendulkar, who smashed 13 fours in his 179-ball knock on the way to his 46th Test century.

The ‘Little Master’ defied the South African attack for close to four and a half hours before being dismissed in bizarre fashion.

He tried to sweep Harris but the ball bounced off his body, hit his elbow and fell onto the stumps. He watched the ball in disbelief before trudging back to the pavilion.

The batting ace shared 72 runs for the third wicket with Vijay and another 70 runs with Dhoni, who was caught at silly point after staying for 144 minutes at the wicket.

A depressed Dhoni had few excuses for the defeat of his much-hailed side by their nearest challengers for the No.1 ranking.

“We were completely outplayed,” Dhoni said. “Kallis and Amla batted brilliantly (on day one). Steyn, the way he bowled, he was the best I have seen of him.

“In India on a track like this, you hardly see such good conventional swing bowling. We are on the back foot now.

“But we will try to fight back in Kolkata,” he added.