The last wall standing

Buffalo Park, in East London, was the venue for the third encounter between India and South Africa before the all-important final, to be played on 26th October in Durban. It was no good news to Indian cricket as South Africa avenged their loss at the Centurion, beating India by 46 runs and effectively making Wednesday's game between Kenya and India a play-off for the final.

South Africa set a stiff target of 283 runs to be made in 50 overs and India were all out for 236 in 44.4 overs. The Indian start was much more than what one might call promising; Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar smashed the bowling to all parts of the field to post a first-wicket partnership of 101 runs off just 15.4 overs. Shiv Sunder Das (2) was brilliantly run out by Andre Nel, and Rahul Dravid found himself in the middle.

Dravid took his time to settle down, struggling to force the issue straight away. He got bogged down too much, not able to find the singles. It seems that none of the Indian batsmen has really learnt the importance of scoring quick singles; more often than not, they bat like millionaires, looking for the big shots.

Sunil Gavaskar always emphasizes the importance of running between the wickets, as it helps to get the blood circulation going in the legs, which in turn helps a batsman with the all-important footwork. Playing the ball into the gaps with soft hands and stealing quick singles is essential early in the innings. If at all there is a flaw in Rahul Dravid's batting, it is the fact that he is a slow starter.

The Indian skipper too played like a novice, throwing away all his experience and all those runs under his belt. Ganguly tried to step up the run-rate and, in the effort, hit the ball high in the air, only to be caught brilliantly by Jacques Kallis. India was to suffer more as the remaining Indian batsmen committed hara-kiri; there was no purpose at all in what Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Deep Dasgupta did in the middle.

Dravid blossomed late, striking boundaries and stepping up the run-rate, but no batsman was willing to keep him company, and India were bowled out with 32 balls to spare. The blame for the loss cannot be put squarely on Dravid; despite his slow start, the India vice-captain never looked like getting out and was scoring runs freely in the latter half of his knock.

He remained unbeaten on 71 off 87 balls, which included seven boundaries. It was a defiant knock, compiled with the help of 31 singles and half-adozen twos. There is bound to be criticism galore for the manner in which he accumulated runs, but these days it has become a habit for people to hurl a few at 'the wall'. The early dot balls are going to be bogeys that Dravid will carry through his career, as he has never really got over his early jitters.

There were a few pull shots and square cuts late in the innings, which suggest that Dravid's hand-eye co-ordination against the short-pitched stuff is of the highest order. Dravid is a crucial player in the Indian scheme of things, and these signs of good form will be a blessing when the Test matches start in November.