South Africa vs India at Banglore

Sehwag makes it one-all.

Virender Sehwag 's blistering 77 off 62 balls steered India to a six-wicket victory over South Africa in the second one-day international in Bangalore.
Irfan Pathan's 3-23 and tight bowling from India's spinners kept the tourists down to only 169-9 in their 50 overs. It was never going to be enough as Gautam Gambhir (38), Pathan (37) and Sehwag took the attack to the bowlers. The result tied the series and ended South Africa's bid to match Australia's record 21-game unbeaten run in 2002/3. India were always on top after Rahul Dravid 's decision to field was followed by a fine opening burst from Pathan. AB de Villiers turned the fifth ball to Harbhajan Singh at square-leg, captain Graeme Smith was lbw shuffling across his stumps, and Jacques Kallis edged one that was angled across him behind. Andrew Hall began confidently, hitting Pathan and Ajit Agarkar through the covers for early fours, but he edged Harbhajan Singh's sharp off-break to Mohammad Kaif at forward short-leg to be out for 32. Sehwag trapped Mark Boucher leg before with his first delivery and then saw Ashwell Prince (30) come down the track to loft the ball to Harbhajan at long-off as the tourists slumped to 96-6. Justin Kemp and Shaun Pollock steadied the innings before the inevitable flurry of boundaries and wickets at the end - but it soon became clear that the Proteas' total was well below par. Pollock was as miserly as usual at the start of the Indian reply - only 10 came off his first six overs. He also struck an early blow when Sachin Tendulkar - equalling Wasim Akram's record of 356 one-day international appearances - mistimed a drive off a slower ball to substitute Robin Peterson. But it all went India's way after that, with a series of edges from Gambhir and Pathan flying down to third man and two clear run-out opportunities squandered by Justin Ontong. Eventually Ontong had to succeed, with the help of Boucher, but Sehwag's arrival merely added to the tourists' suffering. He was brutal on anything pitched up or just short of a good length, while Pathan joined in on the act by launching Andre Nel over the long-off fence. When Ontong hit the target to remove Pathan, 64 were still needed but they came in a hurry as Sehwag dominated a stand of 50 with Dravid. Johan Botha and Ontong came in for some particularly rough treatment and even a return catch from Ontong when Dravid got a leading edge only delayed the inevitable. Sehwag and Yuvraj produced powerful drives off Ontong to clinch victory with more than 14 overs to spare and give South Africa plenty to think about ahead of Tuesday's third game in Chennai.

South Africa Innings 169 for 9 (50.0 overs)

India Innings 171 for 4 (35.4 overs)

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
A B de Villiers	c Harbhajan Singh	b I K Pathan	4	5	1	0
G C Smith	lbw	b I K Pathan	3	10	0	0
A J Hall	c M Kaif	b Harbhajan Singh	32	43	6	0
J H Kallis	c M S Dhoni	b I K Pathan	2	8	0	0
A G Prince	c Harbhajan Singh	b V Sehwag	30	69	4	0
M V Boucher	lbw	b V Sehwag	14	33	1	0
J M Kemp	c R P Singh	b Harbhajan Singh	28	59	3	0
S M Pollock		b Yuvraj Singh	29	61	1	1
J Botha	not out		15	12	3	0
M Ntini		b A B Agarkar	1	3	0	0
Extras		3nb 4w 1b 3lb	11
Total		for 9	169

Bowler O M R W I K Pathan 6.0 1 23 3 A B Agarkar 7.0 0 25 1 R P Singh 5.0 0 22 0 Harbhajan Singh 10.0 2 33 2 M Kartik 10.0 4 16 0 V Sehwag 8.0 0 29 2 Yuvraj Singh 4.0 0 17 1

Fall of wicket   4 A B de Villiers 14 G C Smith 20 J H Kallis 57 A J Hall 85 M V Boucher 96 A G Prince 143 J M Kemp 158 S M Pollock 169 M Ntini

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
G Gambhir	run out		38	50	7	0
S R Tendulkar	c sub	b S M Pollock	2	22	0	0
I K Pathan	run out		37	58	4	1
V Sehwag	not out		77	62	11	0
R Dravid	c and b	J L Ontong	10	17	0	0
Yuvraj Singh	not out		4	6	1	0
Extras		1nb 2w	3
Total		for 4	171

Bowler O M R W S M Pollock 6.0 3 10 1 M Ntini 8.0 1 32 0 A Nel 5.0 0 31 0 J Botha 8.0 1 47 0 A J Hall 6.0 0 23 0 J L Ontong 2.4 0 28 1

Fall of wicket   13 S R Tendulkar 52 G Gambhir 105 I K Pathan 155 R Dravid

Gambhir replaced R Singh at the start of India's innings
Ontong replaced de Villiers at the start of India's Innings

Live Cricket

Umpires: D J Harper, A V Jayaprakash
India: V Sehwag, S R Tendulkar, R Dravid, M S Dhoni, M Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, I K Pathan, A B Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, R P Singh, M Kartik, G Gambhir (sub)
South Africa: G C Smith, A B de Villiers, J H Kallis, A G Prince, J M Kemp, M V Boucher, S M Pollock, A J Hall, J Botha, A Nel, M Ntini, J L Ontong (sub)