NAGPUR, India (Reuters) – Tail-ender Robin Peterson broke Indian hearts by blasting 16 runs off the final over to hand South Africa a thrilling three-wicket win over the co-hosts in the World Cup yesterday.
Chasing 297 and needing 13 off the last six balls, Peterson (18 not out) hoisted a six and hit two fours to edge the Proteas to victory with two balls left – silencing a passionate home crowd.
Sachin Tendulkar had set up an enthralling Group B encounter with a sparkling 111, his 99th international century.
That, along with 73 from Virender Sehwag, left India in great shape at 267-1 but their remaining nine wickets incredibly crashed for 29 runs to leave them 296 all out.
In response, South Africa were always adrift of the required run rate although Jacques Kallis (69), Hashim Amla (61) and AB de Villiers (52) kept them in with a chance until Peterson’s late cameo made sure they did not choke with the finishing line in sight.
“I’m extremely ecstatic at the moment. To have a great game with so many great innings was such a good advert for the World Cup,” said a jubilant Peterson.
His captain Graeme Smith heaped praise on his match winner.
“Robbie always tries to be the calmest in the team but I think his heart was pounding a little bit there,” said Smith.
“I haven’t seen him hit the ball that sweet in a long time and it was a good day for it to show up.
“To get over the line for us is a massive, massive thing.”
While Peterson’s late fireworks had his team mates leaping out of their seats and exchanging high-fives in the South African dressing room, India were left to rue their missed chances as they could have sealed their place in the last eight with victory on Saturday.
The hosts not only paid the price for losing their wickets in a heap but Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s gamble to throw the ball to pace bowler Ashish Nehra for the final over spectacularly backfired.
“Ashish was the only choice (for the last over). He was bowling well and I thought it’s better to go with the seamer,” said Dhoni, who could have asked Harbhajan Singh to bowl it as the South Africans had had more problems reading the spinner.
“You can say I was wrong maybe but I thought that the seamer could do the job for us.”
His judgement call meant Tendulkar and Sehwag’s brilliant knock turned out to be in vain as India suffered their first defeat in this World Cup.
The duo had stitched together a 142-run opening stand but the Little Master’s exit in the 40th over triggered a collapse and India, who looked set to go past 350 at one stage, were all out in 48.4 overs. India completely lost their way as wickets fell like ninepins to a stunned silence at the VCA Stadium, with speedster Dale Steyn, who went for 24 off his first three overs, causing the most damage to end with a five-wicket haul for 50 runs.
Tendulkar and Sehwag added 87 in the mandatory powerplay of 10 overs – the tournament’s best so far – and India were 128 for no loss at the end of 15 overs before South Africa had even realised what hit them.
After Sehwag departed in the 18th over, Tendulkar continued to his record sixth World Cup century and made batting look ridiculously easy with an almost chanceless innings, consisting of eight fours and three sixes.
His rousing exhibition of shotmaking sent the crowd into a frenzy, with one banner reading “God is great, for the last 20 years he goes by the name of Sachin.”
However, just four hours later it was Steyn and company who were celebrating a memorable win.
“After my first five overs I was staring down the barrel, wasn’t I, but I think we all pulled it back beautifully and it was a fantastic display by the batters to reach that total,” said the paceman.
“With 20 overs to go we thought if we restricted them to about 340 we’d be happy so having them under 300 was a great bonus to us and we walked into the changing room we thought we could actually chase it down.”
