From the iSport Cricket Pavilion: South Africa thumped India by 135 runs in the first one-day international in Durban.
The Proteas made 289 for 9 in their 50 overs with AB de Villiers (76) and JP Duminy (73) sharing a 131-run partnership in the middle-order. It proved to be a bit too much for the Indians to chase under floodlights as they collapsed to 154 all-out. South African skipper Graeme Smith won the toss and rightly elected to bat first. Hashim Amla got them off to a flying start, scoring a brisk 50 off 36 balls. But it was the fourth-wicket partnership between de Villiers and Duminy that did the majority of the damage.
The pair got off to a slow, watchful start after Amla's departure. The next 12 overs yielded just 47 runs without a single boundary being scored. The shackles were broken in the 26th over when de Villiers charged down the track and whooped Harbhajan's flighted delivery for six over long-on.
Duminy joined the party in the very next over as he slog-swept Yuvraj Singh for six over mid-wicket. The pair took the batting powerplay in the 28th over and looted 45 runs off the five overs to take South Africa to a pretty 192 for three.
Indian skipper MS Dhoni went for broke and brought on part-time spinners Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. Sharma's second ball was short-pitched and should have been whacked to the moon but AB didn't get the elevation right and swooped it straight to a wicketless Harbhajan at deep mid-wicket. Raina then got a wicket off a good delivery as he slipped one through David Miller's defences. Duminy followed suit soon after as he mis-timed a reverse sweep and got trapped right in front.
Johan Botha (23) and Wayne Parnell (21 not out) added important runs, while Zaheer Khan (2-44) bowled tightly at the death as the Proteas reached 289 for 9 in their allotted overs. It was dismal from the word go for the Indians as Dale Steyn trapped Murali Vijay in front on the fourth ball of the innings.
Sachin Tendulkar, playing his first ODI since last February when he scored a world-record 200, was next to go for just seven. He attempted to walk across and play a Tsotsobe (4-31) ball on the leg side, but ended up top-edging to Steyn at fine leg. Sharma, who was struggling to cope with Morkel's bounce, was given out caught behind for 11 and four balls later, Yuvraj Singh (2) joined him back in the pavilion after edging the same bowler to Smith.
India were on 43 for four at that stage. Kohli and Dhoni put on 52 for the next wicket, before the skipper was unluckily run out for 25 - a straight drive by his partner deflected onto the stumps by bowler Wayne Parnell. Kohli hung around for a while but once he fell to Steyn, the lower order just crumbled. It was an embarrassing defeat for Team India and they should look to set things straight in the second ODI in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Scores:
South Africa 289/9 in 50 overs (de Villiers 76, Duminy 73)
India 154 all-out in 35.4 overs (Kohli 54, Tsotsobe 4-31)
India lost by 135 runs.
Man of the Match: Lonwabo Tsotsobe
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