Sachin Tendulkar missed his century by just one run as India overcame early
jitters to post a fighting 242 for eight in their first cricket one-dayer against
South Africa here today.
Tendulkar was run out in tragic fashion going for what would have been his 42nd
ODI hundred but not before stitching a vital 158-run partnership for the third
wicket with captain Rahul Dravid to prop up the Indian innings.
Put in to bat in breezy and chilly conditions, the Indians,
who till yesterday was struggling to find 11 fit men for the game, ran into
trouble straightaway with Andre Nel dealing a double blow by removing
Sourav Ganguly (13) and Gautam Gambhir (0) to leave India 36 for
two inside 12 overs.
Though Tendulkar and Dravid did the repair job, they could
not really manage to accelerate the pace of scoring and were held on a tight
leash by the all-pace South African attack.
Yuvraj Singh (13 off 12 balls) and Dinesh Kaarthick
(19 off 10 balls) threw their bat at everything to step up the run rate in the
slog overs.
Both Tendulkar and Dravid took time to get their eyes in and
paced their innings well as they inched towards the 200-run mark.
Tendulkar shrugged off his inertia and once he had a hang of
the things out there, the Mumbai batsman drove with elan and whipped anything
on his pads.
|
