Beware of that batting Powerplay. India lost their last nine wickets for 29 runs and you wouldn't have believed it if you hadn't seen it. South Africa were staring down the barrel at the
end of 38 overs. India were strolling at 253 for 1, Sachin Tendulkar was cruising past 100, and a huge total seemed a certainty when they took the batting Powerplay and gaped in horror as disaster-gate crashed their party. India lost four wickets for 30 runs and collapsed to 296 in a sensational phase of play in Nagpur. It's a sign of times that 296 feels a par total. Admittedly, the pitch slowed up as the game progressed and hinted at taking turn and India's hopes rest on that.Fittingly, it was the pair of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, who bled runs with the new ball, who did the damage during this manic phase. Tendulkar fell to an across-the-line hoick, his first ugly shot of the day, in the 40th over to Morne Morkel. Steyn had a double strike in the next over: Gautam Gambhir backed outside leg and scooped a slower one to mid-off and Yusuf Pathan blasted to cover. Things got worse when Yuvraj Singh swung a full toss to long-on of the final delivery of the Powerplay, and it turned chaotic when Virat Kohli gave a tame return catch to Robin Peterson. In the space of a few minutes, the game had spiraled out of India's control and returned to balance. Steyn even went on to complete a five-for, something that was scarcely believable when he was leaking runs with the new ball, when he cleaned up the tail.
Until that stunning phase of play, it was all India. Until then even 375 seemed a possibility. On Twitter, Ian O'Brien caught the carnage in the early overs in Nagpur perfectly: "Currently sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth, having Indian nightmare. Poor bowlers, it's not fair." On a batting pitch, Tendulkar enthralled with his almost serene aggression, and Virender Sehwag dazzled with his impish strokeplay, as India rattled up 174 by the half-way mark.
If Sehwag pumped in the adrenalin, Tendulkar oozed class. Controlled aggression is a term loosely bandied about but there has been rarely a better display of it than the one provided by Tendulkar at Jamtha. If you just noticed the strike-rate, it would be tempting to say he rolled back the clock and was his young adventurous young self but it was a perfect mix of temperance and aggression. There was not a single shot that looked risky and yet he played all the shots, even a hooked six, a shot that he doesn't play too often these days. Tendulkar faced just 20 balls in the first ten overs but had raced away to 35 and his fifty came off 33 balls. Yet there was not one manic shot. It was in the eighth over, from Morkel, that he really got going with an awesome thump through the covers, which was followed by a gorgeous straight drive. Like always, he held his pose even as Morkel was down on the mat. It was a moment that perfectly caught the one-sided battle.
When Steyn fired a bouncer in the 10th over, Tendulkar unfurled a stylish hook to deposit it beyond the backward square-leg boundary. When Jacques Kallis bowled a slower one, Tendulkar glided forward and across to whip the off cutter past mid-on. Unlike Sehwag, Tendulkar played the spinners as per the demands of the ball but of course on his own terms. He went down the track to loft over long-on, he drove straight, he played inside-out with the turn and as always, worked the angles.
Sehwag's opening assault was a microcosm of his batsmanship: audacious hits, a few swing and misses, an inner battle to control his adrenalin rush, and then some more audacity. The first ball set the tone: it was an outswinger from Steyn that curved away from the off and middle line but Sehwag swatted it up and over mid-on for a four. He should have been out in the next over when Morne Morkel induced an edge from an on-the-up flash, but Morne Van Wyk, the keeper, simply froze. A skillful on-the-up thump through the covers, a screaming straight drive and a thunderous cut helped him collect 13 runs from the eigtht over bowled by Morkel.
Curiously, for a batsman who thrives on innovation, he got stuck into a set pattern against the spinners and it brought about his downfall. He repeatedly backed away from leg stump and tried to hit everything through off. He did pick up a couple of boundaries, but fell edging an attempted cut on to the leg stump against Faf du Plessis.
Even as the onslaught continued, you were left wondering whether Graeme Smith could have done anything different. Perhaps, he could have brought in the spinners earlier - Robin Petersen came on in the 12th over with India on 93 for 0. Perhaps he could have turned to Johan Botha sooner rather than waiting until the 17th over. Curiously, he opted for JP Duminy ahead of Botha, but once Botha came in, the run-rate started to ease up and slowed down further as India went into consolidation mode after the fall of Sehwag. India added 37 runs in nine overs as they went from 137 for 0 in 16 overs to 174 by the 25th over. India consolidated through Tendulkar and Gambhir but came crashing down when they took that Powerplay.
