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Looking Back: India Vs South Africa 1996/97, 3rd
Test at Kanpur |
- Karthik Narayan
The scène was set for the decider of the series,
as India locked horns with South Africa at
Kanpur. The atmosphere was electric, with
excitement all through the series. India had won
the first test at Motera and South Africa fought
back thanks to Lance Klusener at the Eden
Gardens.
India won the toss, and
Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian Skipper, promptly
elected to bat on a pitch, which was good for
the batsmen to start off with and gave
assistance to the spinners towards Day 4 and Day
5.
The Indian opening pair
of Nayan Mongia and Woorkeri Raman played pretty
well, though Fanie de Villiers tested them with
his sharp incisive stingy spell of fast bowling.
The opening pair put on a decent partnership for
the first wicket and looked set to make the
Indian scorecard look good for a huge score. But
that was not to be, as Mongia was out bowled to
an in-swinger of McMillan with the score at
76-1. Things never looked up since then as
wickets fell at regular intervals for India as
Raman got out with his personal score of 57. The
Indian team was tottering as Dravid and
Azharudin departed soon without altering the
scoreboard by any substantive means. India was
in dire straits at 193-6 as Paul Adams with his
left arm unorthodox bowling was in the thick of
the action on Day one. No more than 33 were
scored on Day 2 by the Indians as the last 4
wickets crumbled in the space of 23 runs and
India were dismissed for 237. Sachin top scored
with 61, and for South Africa, Paul Adams came
in with a rich harvest of 6 wickets for 55 runs
on a track favoring the spinners.
South Africa were
expected to score heavy on this day and put the
pressure on the Indians, after bowling out them
out cheaply, but that did not happen. Kumble
drew first blood by trapping Hudson in front of
the stumps with the score on 34/1. Gibbs had a
great struggle against the Indian bowlers, as he
scored 17 off 67 balls before giving up the
ghost getting bowled off Ashish Kapoor. Runs
dried up when the spinners operated, as the
wickets came about very regularly, with the two
“K”s Kapoor and Kumble rocking the South
Africans one after another. The bottom half
failed to stay in as none got into double
figures, except for Symcox. South Africa was
bowled out for 177 as Kirsten top scored with
43. Kumble came out on top with 4 wickets,
Kapoor picked up 2 and Srinath knocked off the
lower middle order with 3 wickets. The Indians
had a sizeable lead of 60 runs, which was going
to be useful in low scoring games.
By the end of day two,
things were moving India’s way, even though they
started their second innings poorly. Woorkeri
Raman was sent back with the score on 2, with
Fanie de Villiers picking up his first wicket of
the match. Day 3 held something special in this
test, as it would be determining who would take
honours in the test and the series, as the team
that played this day best would have that edge
over the game. Though Mongia got out at 41,
Kumble (42) and Ganguly (41) made useful
contributions to the scorecard and got a
partnership going. The former Indian
captain Mohammad Azharuddin walked in at Number
Six with the score at 121-4. Having failed in
the first innings, Azhar was determined to make
amends in the second essay. He bustled into the
field with confidence and he converted that into
runs. Runs came in boundaries at free will as he
took on the South African bowlers, especially
the spinners Adams and Symcox for a plenty.
Azhar had his eye in, and was looking good for a
big ton. By the end of Day 3, India were sitting
pretty on 270-5 with Azhar on 88* and Dravid on
33* suggesting that they were firmly in the
Driver’s seat in this test. Day Four called for
consolidation Time for India, and they did do
just that. Azhar soon completed what was a
magnificent century. The Azhar-Dravid
partnership of 165 runs really turned the tide
in favour of India, though Azhar was the senior
partner in that partnership. The Indian
Captain declared at the stroke of reaching 400th
run with Azhar finishing at an unbeaten 163
which included 25 boundaries and a six.
When South Africa started
their chase of an unlikely 461 for a series win,
the order of the day was not losing wickets; and
they needed a few good partnerships from the top
five. Srinath struck first as he had Kirsten
plumb in front of the stumps. Prasad struck five
runs later, and with 2 players back in the
pavilion at 26, someone needed to hang in there.
The Indian skipper ran out Cullinan, and the
team was reeling at 39-3. Hudson and the skipper
Hansie Cronje played some sensible cricket and
hung in there for sometime. When these two were
dismissed by Joshi and Kumble respectively, the
tourists were tottering at 127-5 and staring at
a comprehensive defeat. It was then a matter of
India knocking over the rest of the bottom half
and signing off what would be a big margin win.
Lance Klusener (34*) was the only batsman who
showed resistance and held his ground as he ran
out of partners towards the end. South Africans
were bowled out eventually for a paltry 180 as
Srinath and Joshi got 3 wickets each.
Deservingly, Azhar was adjudged Man of the Match
and Man of the Series for his excellent cricket
throughout this series.
So India had done
themselves proud in what was a very good game of
Cricket. They had just seen themselves getting
nailed in the previous test in one of the worst
defeats, and now they had really made a
commendable comeback! India had won the match
and the series and with all pride! One of the
rare test wins under the captaincy of Sachin
Tendulkar. December 12, 1996 will be marked as
one of Indian cricket’s best moments!
1st Innings:
India 237 (Tendulkar
61, WV Raman 57, Paul Adams 6/55)
South Africa 177
(Kirsten 43, Kumble 4/71)
2nd Innings:
India 400/7 decl (Azhar
163*, Dravid 56, de Villiers 2/58)
SA 180 (Cronje 50,
Srinath 3/38)
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