Rohit Sharma’s 106 in vain as JP Duminy’s 68 off 34 and his 105-run stand with Behardien helps South Africa win with 7 wickets and 2 balls to spare. He produced “one of his best” innings to help his team chase down 200 in their tour-opener against India in Dharamsala on Friday night. He survived two very close shouts for leg-before-wicket during his stay at the crease. Both looked to be right in front of the stumps but the umpire thought otherwise.
Some umpiring decisions changed the game: MS Dhoni
India captain MS Dhoni agreed that Duminy “executed well”, but said his team was “unfortunate” to not get him lbw when South Africa were still a way away from their target.
“We did not have quite a few decisions going our way and sometimes these can change the match. If you could have got Duminy early it could have been different. He played brilliant cricket later on,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“The game was evenly poised, but that’s how cricket is, you don’t get everything in your favour. But I felt they also batted well, kept the momentum going which is important when you’re chasing 200 runs,” he added.
One of my best innings: JP Duminy
Speaking of the Axar over, Duminy said “We knew if we get it down to 10-11 runs in the last over, we stood a chance. With this ground being a little bit small, and the altitude, so the ball travels a bit, so we knew we were in the game. Fortunately enough the left-armer missed his length a little bit, so gave me the opportunity to clear the boundary one more time.”
Duminy, who hit seven sixes in his innings of 68 not out, brought the chase back on track in the 16th over, when he hit three consecutive sixes of left-arm spinner Axar Patel.
“Definitely one of my best innings. I thought the way we started the innings, it was probably what we wanted chasing 200. We knew it was going to be a tough total to chase, probably just above par, but we were happy with that start,” he added.