South Africa enter Sharjah Cup final

Sharjah, March 27: India came here with the reputation of being the favourites. But they did nothing special to justify all the hype. They now face the prospects of returning home early. Only an extraordinary twist to the Sharjah Cup script can delay their flight.

On Monday, India were bowled out for 164 - exactly the same score they had made in the opening match against the Proteas - but the only difference being they didn't lose by 10 wickets. This time the margin was a bit better - six wickets with 7.2 overs to spare.

South Africa with three clean victories from as many matches have made it to the final with ease and they take on Pakistan in the last match of the double-league preliminaries on Tuesday. Even if Pakistan lose, they might still qualify for the triangular series final since they have a much better run-rate.

The only way India can date South Africa in the final if Pakistan lose the match by more than 100 runs if they bat second. If South Africa bat second than they have to achieve the target before 35 overs to relegate Pakistan to the third place.

"Only a miracle can save India," as skipper Saurav Ganguly said after the match.

On Monday, defending such a small score and that too against a team who are on a roll here, India did sparkle for a while when Venkatesh Prasad removed Herschelle Gibbs and Lance Klusener off successive balls in the eighth over.

And when dangerman Gary Kirsten (31 off 44 balls) holed out to skipper Saurav Ganguly at slips off Anil Kumble and Neil McKenzie fell to Nikhil Chopra, India looked like fighting back into the game. But South Africa, four down for 50 in the 26th over, applied themselves to the task at hand with maturity to frustrate the Indian camp.

Leading the charge was Kallis and skipper Hansie Cronje himself. The two prospered in a match-winning stand of 71 runs to steer their team home in 42.4 overs. Kallis remained not out on 53 off 93 balls with two fours and two sixes while Cronje, who smashed the winning four off Robin Singh, was unbeaten on 42 off 69 balls.

Earlier, the Indian batsmen simply struggled to put across the nagging South African bowlers, who didn't do anything extraordinary, but bowled wicket to wicket, cramming the batsmen for space to execute their shots. At times even scoring singles was a luxury.

Bowling under overcast conditions, South Africa struck the first blow in the fifth over when Hayward got rid of Saurav Ganguly for six.

Coach Kapil Dev changed the batting order, sending Mohammed Azharuddin ahead of Rahul Dravid. The move seemed to pay off when he and Tendulkar built up a stand of 70 runs for the second wicket to take the score to 80 by the 23rd over when Azharuddin, trying to steal a single of a misfield, failed to beat a direct throw from Neil McKenzie was caught short of the crease.

The most experienced batsman in the world with 331 one-day matches under his belt wasn't at ease during his knock of 36 which came off 65 balls with five fours.

Tendulkar met a similar fate as that of Azhar, attempting to score a single which wasn't there and a direct throw from Gibbs found him well short of the crease.

Ajay Jadeja, who came two down, looked pretty mystified when he was ruled lbw after a Steve Elworthy delivery hit his pad just above the knee roll.

Dravid and Robin Singh batted painstakingly against the disciplined South African bowlers who bowled according to the field which further made lift difficult for the two. Dravid managed to score 26 off 60 balls with two fours while Robin Singh chipped in with 28 off 45 balls to add some useful contribution to the crawling scoreboard.

Blond Hayward returned with the best spell, taking four wickets for 31 runs while Lance Klusener took two for 35.

"In the end it was batting that let us down," concluded Kapil Dev.