to claim the T20 series 2-1 after a dramatic last over bowled by De Lange. New

The final over was the most dramatic phase of the match. With 7 to get of the last over De Lange bowled tight line to pick up two wickets. With 6 needed of the last ball he bowled a no-ball which added tension in the minds of everyone in the pitch, But the youngster maintained calm to bowl the last ball near the off stump which Southee failed to connect and the series was won by the Green brigade.

At least after this match the Porteas should shrug off their chokers tag a bit. They held their nerve to come out victorious. The Black Caps could have won it a while ago with solid start given by Nicol and Guptill. The
work was carried on by Ryder who lost touch in the death. It was proved that one or two good over in a T20 can change the course of the match.

There were number of positives for both the teams from this series. Looking at the Kiwi camp, Guptill would love to carry on this form to the one dayers. Nicol is surely the find with his ability to roll the arms with the ball
and useful contributions with the bat. The Porteas camp has a lot of positives as Levi emerged to be a driving force and De Villiers has shown class as he does always. The man to admire must be Duminy; he has been involved in number
of victories for them but went unnoticed most of the times. Sure he will have a commanding role to play in the one dayers.

The one day internationals are sure to provide a cracker of a contest as both these teams are evenly poised and there will be a lot of fun when these two sides play.

Nuwan Kulasekara got key wickets that dent India in the big chase

Change of captain for India was not followed by change of luck at the toss which meant India had to chase yet again. Indians have seen how difficult it is to chase under the lights at the Gabba and hence they would have badly wanted their bowlers to put in a commanding performance. But what happened was exactly the opposite and at the end batsmen were left with too much do. For India, Rohit Sharma was dropped after a series of unimpressive knocks but Sehwag replacing him is unfair to be frank, little can be done as MSD has been banned. Zaheer Khan too missed out. Ashwin and Parthiv Patel were drafted into the side in place of them. Srilanka had no reasons to change a side that had performed so well against Australia last time.

Srilankan openers started off wonderfully well as Indian fast bowlers, with the exception of Vinay kumar, found it extremely difficult to contain them. The promotion of Mahela Jayawerdene to the top is working big time for Srilanka as both of them put together an attacking 95 run partnership in just 18.4 overs. India needed some spectacular effort in the field as their bowlers never looked threatening to pick up a wicket and the captain decided to do it himself as he pulled of a stunner at midwicket to dismiss Mahela Jayawerdene, Irfan was extremely lucky to have that in his wickets column. Ashwin at the other end kept asking questions of Dilshan and finally owned him with a ball that bounced more with Parthiv completing the catch. Dishan had completed his fifty though and introduction of Indian spinners did bring the scoring rate down as Sangakkara and Chandimal tried rebuilding the innings but Sanga disappointed Srilankan supporters this time too by getting out for just 8 runs as he pulled one of Umesh Yadav straight to Sachin at deep square leg. Srilanka were 124/3 in 27.1 overs. After starting so badly, Indians were fortunate to be back in the game but they did not capitalize on the golden chance.

Thirmanne joined the in-form Chandimal and they batted sensibly without taking any risks to take the score to 195 when Chandimal was cleaned up by Pathan’s yorker at the end of 39th over. Sehwag’s experiment with Umesh Yadav failed despite the wicket of Sanga in his very first delivery of the second spell, as he leaked runs throughout the match. By doing so Viru forgot to use Ashwin who was bowling really well which meant when he was brought back during the batting powerplay, it was too late. Thirimanne reached his 50, an innings that was filled with grace, innovation and a bit of controversy as Ashwin run him out even before releasing the ball but Sachin intervened to call him back by the spirits of the game. One might wonder why ICC had changed the rules then if it is not in right spirits.

He did get out soon having scored 62 as Raina took a good catch to give Ashwin his second wicket but Mathews took full toll on some poor bowling at the end from Indian bowlers. He scored 49 runs of just 37 balls as Srilanka set a target of 290. Viru tried Raina and Kohli for the last two overs as his strike bowlers went for too many runs but that didn’t help either as they gave away 24 runs. Chasing 290 under the lights at the Gabba against quality bowling line up is near impossible but India tried to some extent unlike last time but too many reckless shots ultimately led to their downfall.

Sehwag once again upper cut a wide delivery from Malinga straight to the third man to get dismissed for a duck and India were one down even before opening the account. His approach is getting increasingly impossible to explain. As a captain you expect much more. Sachin and Gambhir did play few attractive shots but Kulasekara’s impeccable line and length accounted for both of them in quick succession. He rarely pitched one delivery short and the swing under lights helped him big deal. Once India were 3 down with just 54 on the board, many would have thought it was case of how soon the match is gonna get over. But Kohli and Raina showed good application despite a few dropped chances to bring up India’s highest partnership of the series so far. The fact that just 92 was the highest partnership tells you how bad Indian batsmen have played so far. India were 146/3 in 30.2 overs with a decent chance to win the match but from then on Srilankan bowlers struck at regular intervals to take the game away from India’s reach.

Raina was dismissed for 32, kohli for 66 and Jadeja’s poor form with the bat continued as he was sent back just 17 runs. Suddenly India were reduced to 191/6 in 37.4 overs. Poor planning from India’s coaching staff reflected when Parthiv Patel was sent at 6 down. He too failed but Irfan Pathan showcased his batting skills as he scored runs at complete ease despite running out of partners. His efforts were largely responsible for India getting a bonus point at the least. India were all out for 238 in 45.1 overs. As Viru later admitted, India did miss their captain MSD and his immaculate finishing skills. Kulasekara was excellent throughout the match and ended up with figures of 9-0-40-3 which earned him the Man of the Match award.

India need to perform extremely well in the remaining two matches and with a bit of luck they can hope for getting into the finals. The only positive that has come out for them is Irfan’s usefulness as an all rounder. They need to rethink about Ravindra Jadeja and Umesh Yadav, who haven’t impressed at all. Rahul Sharma needs to drafted in at the expense of Jadeja, as Irfan can do the role of an all rounder. Srilankan camp will be all smiles as they completed another clinical win. They have struck a perfect combination and will look to make most of it under the exemplary leadership of Mahela Jayawerdene.

Ponting's ODI career has come to an end. Picture courtesy: Wikipedia. Author: YellowMonkey/Blnguyen.

Recent slump in form and the axing has pushed Ricky Ponting to retire from ODI cricket. He will continue to play on in test cricket. Australia are looking ahead at 2015 World Cup and Ricky is not in their plans.

“John Inverarity made it very clear to me yesterday the direction that they’re heading with the one-day team and that I’m not part of their plans,” Ponting said. “It’s a little bit hard to come here today and say I’m retiring when I’ve already been left out of the side. I don’t expect to play one-day international cricket for Australia any more and I’m pretty sure the selectors don’t expect to pick me either.”

Ricky Ponting has a great ODI record. He has been part of World Cup winning team thrice and captained two of those. He is only second to Sachin Tendulkar in terms of runs scored. He has represented Australia in most number of ODIs than any other Australian. Ponting has also made it clear that he play for Tasmania, his state side. 

The hard works he has put in last twelve months has had a say in his mind and body. He wasn’t at his best throughout the ODI series, scoring single digit figures in all five matches. ”I’ve had to work harder than ever in my career and I worked harder than everybody else in the Australian team right through the last 12 months. At some stage that was going to catch up with me and I think just being not quite as sharp as I needed to be at the start of the one day series has played a bit of a part in why I haven’t scored those runs.” he added.

He feels he has lot to offer for the test side even though the end is getting closer. “The passion for the international game of cricket for me has not died or changed one little bit,” Ponting said. “I still don’t see a finish line as far as my international career is concerned. Now that one-day cricket isn’t there any more we all know that day is coming closer and closer for me. I don’t think I’m the sort of person who is going to want to have a massive farewell series. I’ll make a decision when I think that I can’t contribute to winning games for Australia.”

Ponting's ODI career has effectively come to an end. Picture courtesy: Wikipedia. Author: YellowMonkey/Blnguyen.

Australia’s stand-in captain, Ricky Ponting, has been dropped for the remainder of the CB series.  The decision was taken after Ponting faced the worst slump of his career. 

Ponting is yet to score a double digit score in this series. He has scored 18 runs at an average of 3.6 in five matches. His scores read 2,1,6,2 and 7. This has effectively ended the career of the greatest ODI captain for Australia. 

“The team will not seem the same without him, but moving on from the omission of players who have been outstanding over a long period of time is the nature of elite sport,” Inverarity, chairman of selection committee, said. “Ricky’s record speaks for itself. He is one of the truly great performers in the history of Australian ODI cricket, with his reputation enhanced further by him captaining Australia to two World Cup victories.”

He also praised Ricky Ponting’s contribution to the team and his invaluable presence on the field. He will never receive what his predecessors got. They were allowed to choose their end but Ponting has been pushed away. He also stressed the point of looking ahead to the 2015 World Cup. There would be farewell for him too. ”In elite sport there’s no place for sentiment. There are always the two schools of thought, going out on your own terms and that, and the members of the national selection panel were unanimous in their view. It was discussed by email last night, a few calls last night and was confirmed this morning. That’s the decision and that’s elite sport.”

However, he didn’t shut the door completely on Ponting. ”We’re not ruling him out because one never knows what’s around the corner … but we’ve certainly got 2015 in mind, and we knew at the beginning of the series when we wanted those young players to be blended in, in the presence of Ricky.” he added. 

All-rounder Shane Watson has replaced Ponting in the squad. Watson has recovered from the calf injury which has kept him out of the test series. The National Selection Panel has also decided Matthew Wade to be the Number 1 ODI wicket-keeper. However, they are intended to take both to West Indies. 

Richar Levi's whirlwind innings took apart New Zealand. Picture Courtesy: sportslive.

There was a thought that everything would go New zealand’s way in this T20 too, but there was a turnaround produced by the valiant South Africans. The porteas won the toss and made an average start in the process of regaining the lost momentum. But their bowlers were put under pressure by the Kiwi top order batsmen. It was Guptill once again scoring freely and McCullum joined him. After they were out started the real show Franklin and Williamson cleared the ropes with ease and played good cameos. The kiwis managed only 3 runs of the 19^th over and lost their scoring rate by the end of innings. That period of play let them down to a great extent. The South Africans were fancied to chase this down with good batting conditions and smaller boundaries.

Once the South African innings started it was fireworks all over Hamilton. Richard Levi was the major destructor from their camp. From the word go he was hitting everything that came his way. Amla disappointed once again, but Levi was growing from strength to strength as the innings progressed. The ploy of promoting Parnell didn’t work either for the Proteas. Their captain AB Devilliers came next and played responsibly. The man who stole the show was Levi who toyed the Kiwi bowlers to all parts of the ground. He scored the fastest ton in T20s with 13 6’s and 5 4’s. It was a treat to watch as he scored 117 of 51 balls equalling the highest score in T20s achieved by Gayle. It was none the less a master class innings. Hope his innings would give the energy needed for the Proteas. In the rival camp they have some issues to be sorted out before the next T20.

Hilfenhaus continued his good form from the test series

India put up a disgusting show at the Gabba after losing yet another toss. India’s chief tormentor in tests Ben Hilfenhaus made a spectacular return to the ODI side, in place of an unfit Clint Mckay, with a fifer to help Australia complete a commanding victory. On a day when India chose to go with a four men pace attack, opting for Zaheer Khan in place of Ravichandran Ashwin, they failed miserably in all departments of the game.

India started off decently with the ball not letting Warner and Wade off the hook as they gave away just 31 runs in 8 overs. Zaheer Khan in particular swung the ball both ways and in fact was unlucky not to get Wade in the very first over as Rohit Sharma at second slip unnecessarily interfered only to drop the catch that would have been easily pouched by Sachin. That was only the sign of things to come. Warner then decided to get on the with the game as he smacked 14 runs of the 9th over bowled by Zaheer. But India was lucky to see the back of Warner as he played Irfan’s harmless delivery straight to Sachin at midwicket having played very well to score 43 of 46 balls. Wade was struggling at the other end while Zaheer returned to put Ponting out of his agony for a single digit score again. Australia were 83/2 in 19.2 overs. Raina was chipping in with some useful overs and hence Dhoni was tempted to try Rohit’s off spin too. The move proved fruitful as he induced a caught and bowled chance to dismiss Wade but M.Hussey and Forrest put together the match changing partnership of 101 runs.

Even though Forrest could not accelerate he did not give up his wicket and provided the much needed support to Mike Hussey who kept the score board ticking, thanks to a combination of shoddy fielding, listless bowling, questionable umpiring and insipid captaincy. By the time Mike Hussey misread the slower ball and found Raina at midwicket he had scored a brilliant 59 of 52 balls and had set the launch pad for their finishers too. Forrest followed him to the pavilion in the same over as Pathan grabbed his 3rd wicket inspite of looking the least threatening. The scoreboard read 223/5 in 44 overs. Umesh Yadav though not accurate in his delayed first spell was not easy for batsmen to hit at the end overs as he was generating too much pace for the likes of David Hussey and Daniel Christian. But Dhoni stopped Umesh and instead preferred Vinay Kumar and Irfan Pathan to bowl the last 5 overs between them. Both of them relished the opportunity as they took full toll on both the medium pacers who were pathetic to say the least and scored 58 runs of the last 30 balls. David Hussey remained 26 not out of 20 and Daniel Christian had scored 30 of 18. Vinay and Irfan got too carried away with their variations as they tried the slower ones too often which let the entire team down as Aussies set a mammoth target of 289.

Dhoni missed a couple of run out chances and his captaincy today lacked any sense. He did not give Jadeja a single over and introduced Umesh Yadav only after 22 overs. When Umesh was troubling batsmen with his pace at the death overs, he stopped him and instead preferred Vinay Kumar who was unimpressive. On a day when India’s bowling and fielding was ordinary, his captaincy only added to the woes of the team. The last time India fielded 4 pacers (P Kumar, M Patel, A Nehra, I Sharma) in an ODI: v SL at Dambulla 28 Aug 2010. SL made 299-8. The decision to go in with 4 fast bowlers is clearly not working as all the 4 seem to look clueless about their role. To chase a target of 289 against a quality bowling attack with an under-performing middle order was quite a task and Indian batsmen as expected put up no show. 

Gambhir edged a pacy delivery from Brett Lee to the keeper and Sachin sent one straight to Doherty at third man while trying his favourite upper cut. Rohit Sharma was dismissed the very next over for a duck as he slashed a wide delivery and the edge was safely taken by Wade. Hilfenhaus sent Virat Kohli back for just 12 runs and the Indians never recovered from the early blows. India were 36/4 in 10.3 overs when Raina and Dhoni got together to stem the flow of wickets. They succeeded in that but the runs never came and when Raina went in search for it wickets started falling again. Perhaps that explains why Dhoni is too cautious to try anything coming in at no.6 with no batsmen to follow. Apart from Dhoni no other Indian batsmen were willing to battle the bounce and swing that the Australian bowlers generated and they perished trying to counter attack. Even the task of getting a bonus point went in vain as Dhoni hit a short ball straight into the fielder’s hands at short mid-wicket having added yet another half century to his name, but this time in a losing cause. The bowler was Hilfenhaus again. Indian tailenders did not trouble the scorers much as India was all out for 178 in 43.3 overs. Australia completed a terrific bowling performance led by Ben Hilfenhaus whose figures read 9.3-1-33-5.

Ben Hifenhaus duly got his Man of the Match award and Australia are at the top of the table of again. Indian middle order bar Dhoni has not clicked at all and Manoj Tiwary deserves a look ahead of Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina. Meanwhile for Aussies Ricky Ponting’s form is the only concern and Clint Mckay might take the place of Mitchell Starc on his return. The next match for India is of utmost importance as India need to pull off a win against the Lank ans with their net run rate being the lowest among the three teams, only wins count for India from now on.

Rahul Dravid will walk on the broken glasses if his team asks him to

We will never get ecstatic watching this gentleman bat or feel jittery when he approaches a century which would certainly not be the case with all other batsmen who hold similar records. Why? Very simple. An operation saves a life and that life in turn may bring exuberance to a substantial group of people by which I mean his relatives,friends etc. But how many of us relish watching a doctor operate? He is,in many ways,similar to a doctor and the patient here is Indian Cricket. This patient may not have life but still millions and millions of us care. So when its welfare is taken care off,a nation sleeps in absolute comfort. And who was chosen to do it? Oh wait,am I missing something here?

Yeah, ‘The Tale Of How such a Doctor was Chosen’. Back then God decided to give birth to Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar because for some strange reasons he wanted India to get so passionate and crazy about cricket. He had assigned specific roles for them too. Kapil and his Devils have to start it and Sachin later has to take over from them single handedly and send the nation into a state of complete frenzy. He decided that was it but out of curiosity he wanted to foresee what is about of happen as he was so proud of his concept that he regarded it as one of his best.  According to his plan,Kapil started it by winning the world cup and Sachin took over only to enchant his countrymen with magical knocks. India became cricket crazy. As he fast forwarded his forecast to see the greater heights that Indian Cricket team achieved,to his disappointment he realised that every time Sachin scripted a wonderful tale,the other 10 somehow made the climax look awful. India kept losing time and again which unsettled the supporters. He began to understand his mistake and had no other options but to choose someone to avoid his brainstorm become a complete flop,someone who can keep the supporters in tranquil state.

He told a group of candidates whom he considered as eligible that this particular character would have to do one hell of a job to convince the men in charge(selectors) of his destined world that he has come there to stay and even after getting a permanent berth,he will never ever get the rewards for what he has done. He also said them that this guy has to do truck load of unnecessary works that is completely unrelated to him,only then his destiny would be fulfilled. No one was ready to do that,instead they pointed at Sachin and said they were more than ready to do his role. God smiled at them and said even Sachin would suffer to the same extent,so it doesn’t make any difference. They replied to him that they did not care about the hard work but there was absolutely no use in suffering so much if they dont get any proper acknowledgement. They were prepared to do it one and only if All Mighty could promise them that they will be regarded as a hero,like Sachin! But God cannot promise them that. He sat down worried,picturising the faces of people who looked sad,furious,frustrated and disappointed. There came a little boy with a cute smile who on seeing those faces drew one face which looked content,satisfied and happy and sat besides him. God was in no mood to start a conversation. After few minutes,he traded his paper for God’s and burnt aside the paper of sorrow. He then gave himself to the ‘The Holy Spirit’ and asked him to create that character from his soul,with the smile still on his face. There you go,God gave us ‘Rahul Sharad Dravid’-the doctor who took utmost care of Indian Cricket and settled down the nerves of millions that were about to burst.

Now then I would tell you why I would erect a statue for Rahul,the only statue which I ever will do so. I was recently in a conversation with my friend who boasted of Saurav Ganguly’s achievements and it went on to an extent where he credited Ganguly for Dravid’s decision to accept wicket-keeping. My head was about to burst! I was yelling for Dravid to hear those,maybe he would have responded with the same smile. But sorry I could not. Could he have credited Ganguly had Ganguly not had the advantage of someone like Dravid? That was no rocket science,anyone could have asked a ‘once upon a time wicket keeper’ to do it at such a high level. That person will also accept as that would extend his days with the team, if his place was in danger or decline to prevent his career coming to an abrupt end. If he opts for the former,I bet ultimately that decision would be proved naive as both his wicket keeping and batting would get affected. Mahela Jayawerdene,Dilshan,Younis Khan and Umar Akmal are keepers with same skill levels of Dravid. If they had tried, their captains would have got the credits it seems, insane. But they will never do it as wicketkeeping is such an atrocious job for a part timer and that too for years. That was a ludicrous and tenderfoot decision turned into strikingly unbelievable success only because of Dravid’s determination and hard work. No other cricketer in this world,past-present-future,would have done 20% of what Dravid did as a WK-Batsman that too after 5 years of overwhelming success in test cricket from 1996-2000 and cementing his place in ODI side after 1999 world cup heroics. There was no need for him to accept that pathetic request from whoever asked him to do it, when in such glorious form, but he did it. 100% credits to Dravid alone, everyone else get away.

The next important factor when you think of Dravid is his ability to bat anywhere. He was at no.3 but was pushed to no.5 in ODI’s to accommodate other batsmen and he responded to that with an average of 43.91 in 69 matches. Credit Ganguly for doing this, I have absolutely no problems. Credit him for what he deserves as this is a tactical move to provide solidity and guide youngsters. And no one needs a mention about his sacrifices in test cricket as a opener,we turn to Dravid whenever we need to be safe. When I saw him coming as a opener again after carrying the bat in the first innings,for the first time ever I shed tears for a cricketer. Till date that remains the only instance, ofcourse I am referring to the disastrous tour of England. What the hell were others doing? Why is it Dravid always? I was shouting at the likes of Sachin,Laxman and Dhoni whom I love a lot for sending Dravid again in a span of 10 minute innings break to face the music. But Dravid showed no expressions. Look at how we treat him, we want him to retire first in tests and we forced him out of ODI cricket.

Under Ganguly, who is India’s most successful test captain with 21 wins, Dravid was just miraculous. In these 21 matches he averaged 102 and scored nearly 23% of runs scored by India. This is the highest percentage contribution by any batsman in test cricket history in matches won under a single captain where the captain has won more than 20 Tests. Almost in all India’s away test wins,Dravid would have been the backbone. If it is Yuvraj for Dhoni,then its Dravid for Ganguly. Without them,their captains are nothing. Ganguly knows it, you should see his face in commentary box when Dravid was scoring centuries against England, which was full of pride and bravado. You missed it? Dont worry,you still can see that expression when you achieve something remarkable,but in your mom’s face. Dhoni too knows how important is Yuvraj,that is the reason why he stuck with his match winner despite his shoddy performances.

We may not get ecstatic and we may feel sleepy when watching him bat but when we get up from sleep,he will still be batting to save  Team India and all his captains from embarrassment,something that we wont find in batsmen we would love to watch. He is the best team player that the world of cricket has ever seen. One more feather in his cap is that,after Greg Chappell took over he wanted every single senior player to improve his fitness,commitment and fielding skills and sent them out to come back after getting them. But he never questioned Dravid. He simply cannot because how could you question someone perfect?

All these come from an ardent Sachin fan,who has no idea to erect a statue for Sachin anywhere in future. Please do not be bewildered if you get to see a statue of Dravid in my home and also as a part of my wall. A statue because I have not seen a better team player in the sport which I love the most and as a part of my wall because I need to sleep peacefully. Who better to Guard my home?

Special thanks to Harsha Bhogle for making me understand that there is absolutely no necessity to be a fan of either this or that. Without him I would have spent my life by not admiring Dravid just because I love Sachin and I have to retaliate against most of Dravid’s fans questioning Sachin’s ability. Not anymore. I love both of them but Dravid did things that no one else would have got the courage to even attempt.

Only Rusty Theron was able to put pressure on New Zealand in first T20. Picture Courtesy: mid-day.com.

Match Details:

New Zealand vs. South Africa, Hamilton 19 February 2012

Context:

The last match between the two teams was plainly one sided to say. But we can expect a tight game in this one as both teams would work out their plans.

New Zealand are growing in confidence day to day, the ultimate reason has to be their fielding. Guptill’s excellence in the field gave them their first breakthrough. He also took a very difficult catch and made it look very easy. Martin Guptill is having the form of his lifetime, whatever he touches turns gold. The youngsters are coming up good in certain situations for the Kiwis. Dale Steyn’s absence was felt when South Africa failed to get quick wickets especially when didn’t have runs to defend.

In South African camp the big guns are being missed desperately. Especially Kallis and Steyn who would turn the game to their side single handed. Theron was the only bowler who looked like troubling the kiwi batsmen. 

Conditions:

It is a high scoring ground where Zimbabwe scored the 200 a week ago and don’t forget that it was chased down. The wicket would be evenly paced in both the innings and the fast bowlers has to maintain line and length as there would be not much of support.

Team News:

The squads are likely to remain same for this match too. The Proteas have good bowlers only that they should perform whereas the Kiwis are settled so there would likely be no changes until any injury occurs to a player or so.

In Focus:

Who else can it be, it’s an obvious choice. Martin Guptill will be a player to watch after his blitzkrieg innings in Wellington.  It would enough if the other batsmen stay around him and it would be a cake walk for the Black Caps. The bowling department is pretty cool with Southee and Nathan McCullum leading from the front.

Considering the talent the Proteas have they will hugely rely on De Villiers and Amla to get going. Also the quickies would love to make an impression ahead of the ODI’s. Duminy could come in handy considering he has done it for them in previous years.

Hope the match would be a treat to the cricket lovers. Because out of the 4 Twenty-twenty matches played here two were won by the team that bats first and two by the team batting second. Also in three of those matches the team batting first has crossed 180. So let us all hope for a thundering T20.

Martin Guptill's purple patch ensured New Zealand won't have any troubles. Picture courtesy: Wikipedia. Author: YellowMonkey/Blnguyen.

Martin Guptill can walk on water at the moment. It is one of those times when a player will feel he can do no wrong. He scored his sixth consecutive half century to chase down a modest total. 

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first on a sunny day. Guptill’s excellence in the field gave them their first breakthrough. His Jhonty Rhodes style run, dive and break the stumps found Hashim Amla short of his crease. Colin Ingram got out for a duck. He came down the track and tried to loft a ball but was beaten completely. Bredon McCullum completed the stumping for his brother. Tim Southee’s slower ball claimed Richard Levi’s wicket. South Africa were 38/3 after the powerplay. 

Guptill did what AB de Villiers does best. Took a very difficult catch and made it look very easy. New Zealand’s impressive fielding and consistent good bowling accumulated pressure on South Africa. At the end of 14th over, South Africa were 75/4. The ten overs went boundary less. 

Sometimes pressure can bring the best out of a player and that’s what happened in the next over. Justin Ontong took 26 off Kane WIlliamson, hitting four consecutive sixes. When South Africa felt they came out of a precarious situation, New Zealand’s fielding yeilded another wicket. Southee pouched a low catch inches off the ground to remove dangerous Ontong. Jean Paul Duminy showed glimpses of his genius when he walk-paddled a full toss to the fine leg boundary. But he didn’t last long to provide a late flourish. They ended with a decent 147.

Dale Steyn has been left out of this T20 series and it hurt South Africa. Guptill continued his merry form with two fours and a six over long-on inside three overs. Two more big blows followed in fifth over. One six flew 127 meters. Rusty Theron removed Rob Nicol with his first ball. Apart from him, South Africa’s bowlers never really troubled any batsmen. 

Three more wickets fell in next ten overs but it never got New Zealand into any trouble as Guptill was going strong at the other end. South Africa have to address plenty of issues before next game. New Zealand will hope to continue their good work. Finding a way to stop rampant Guptill will be the first task for South Africa.