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The Cola Kids fizz again

The big question everyone was asking, before the game, was how the Indian openers would withstand the withering Protean pace attack.

The answer, as it turned out, was -- very well indeed.

From the start, it was obvious that Tendulkar had imposed some kind of restriction on himself, and was looking to bat through for a big one. He was noticeably looking to cover swing and seam and defend, opening out only when the bowlers erred in line. Ganguly, at the other end, started off with a flowing four, then settled into a similar safety first approach.

15 May 1999: Lance Klusener of South Africa celebrates the fall of Sachin Tendulkar's. Pic: Ben Radford / ALLSPORTS

However, there was one noticeable difference between the defense-oriented batting of today, and those we have seen on some occasions in the past. And that lay in the running between wickets. Both Ganguly and Tendulkar repeatedly took on the Protean fielders, arguably the best in the world, playing the ball with soft hands and racing with the shots, displaying the very good understanding that comes of playing a lot of cricket together.

It is very much a Tendulkar trademark -- he lifts the standard of running between wickets when he is out there, making even the otherwise languid Ganguly seem capable of giving Michael Bevan some competition. With the result that without really going after the bowling, the openers still managed to get to 66/0 at the end of their 15 -- in the process seeing off the early spells of Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis, and three overs of Donald as well.

It was unfortunate that just when the platform seemed in place for a big push, Tendulkar went against the run of play, attempting to run Klusener down to the vacant third man and managing only to touch to Boucher, the error forced by the ball skidding through quicker than the batsman anticipated.

Saurav Ganguly of India plays a drive. Pic: Graham Chadwick / ALLSPORT

That brought Dravid and Ganguly -- two players who made their debut (in Dravid's case, Test debut) in England three years ago -- together. And in their contrasting styles, they batted the sting right out of the South African attack. Both showed that, despite the odd miscalling, they were more aware of the need to rotate strike, and more willing to do so, than they had been earlier in their career. Dravid was fluent off the back foot, a dismissive square drive off the back foot off Allan Donald being the shot of the innings. Ganguly for his part looked brilliant driving in front of the wicket on either side. Keeping the run accumulation at a steady 4-plus through the middle overs, Dravid and Ganguly ensured that the South African quicks didn't get a sniff of a breakthrough.

191/1 in 40 meant that the last ten overs could be milked to the max, with plenty of wickets in hand. But this is where, as so often in recent times, India gave it away. Just 62 runs came off the last ten, this despite Lance Klusener's prodigality (the bowler went for 12 in the 48th, 12 again in the 50th, so that effectively meant that in the other eight overs, the Indian batsmen managed a mere 42 runs at just over five an over).

Rahul Dravid loses his wicket to Klusener. Pic: Graham Chadwick / ALLSPORT

Both Dravid and Ganguly fell trying to up the scoring rate. The former, after a clinical half century, attempted to hoist Klusener over long on and managed only to play all over a ball on line of off. Ganguly then played a fierce cut and responded to Azharuddin's call, only for Rhodes to produce a trademark magical moment -- diving to his right, he picked up, spotted that Ganguly was a touch slow off the blocks and flashed an inch-perfect throw to Kallis, the bowler to catch Ganguly way out of his ground. After a fluent innings of 97, having shrugged off his poor form in the warm up games, the left-handed opener would feel a touch aggrieved at having missed out on a century in his 100th ODI.

Azhar looked incommoded against Donald, but once he sighted his good friend Klusener, the Indian skipper cut loose, pasting the bowler all over the park. Klusener, who seems to lose his nerve when he sights Azhar, helped things along with a stream of full tosses, and one couldn't help thinking that Cronje had probably miscalculated by having Pollock finish his overs ahead of Klusener.

India ended on 253/5. If they had been asked before the game, they would have been delighted at that score -- but having established a perfect platform for the late order push, the Indians arguably were at least 20 short of what they could have made in the circumstances.

For South Africa, all bowlers -- with the exception of Klusener (who, ironically, was the most successful with three in his bag) bowled well. Pollock made a few seam around early on, troubling both openers, Kallis was very tight especially in his first spell, Donald revealed a mean streak a mile wide and Cronje and Boje, the combined 'fifth' bowler, did their bit by giving just 55 in their ten.

But it is the fielding, as always, that held the key to the Protean game. Rhodes was his usual self but Herschelle Gibbs, a peripatetic presence in the covers, was not one jot lesser than his more renowned colleague. And the other eight fielders were, without exception, athletic, quick to attack the ball and laser-accurate in their throwing, leading you to believe that the same batting, against a lesser fielding side, would have made at least 50 more.

The South African innings

Scoreboard