Monday 23 February 2015 15:40, UK
India successfully exposed the worrying lack of depth in South Africa’s batting line-up as they eased to a 130-run World Cup victory, says Andrew Hall.
The Proteas, set 308 to win, were bundled out for just 177 as they lost their last seven wickets for just 43 runs to be bowled out in 40.2 overs.
Faf du Plessis top-scored for South Africa with 55 – a long way short of Shikhar Dhawan's career-best 137, which is the highest score in a World Cup ever against South Africa, beating Stephen Fleming’s 134no for New Zealand in Johannesburg in 2003.
“South Africa would have liked to have competed better in the second half of the game,” admitted Hall, who played for South Africa in ICC Cricket World Cups 2003 and 2007.
“It just showed that they’ve got a good top six but if those guys don’t fire, there’s nothing really behind it which makes that No 7 spot so much more important.
“I know that in the last game against Zimbabwe JP Duminy and David Miller both got hundreds but it’s a different story when you are playing against the World Champions.”
South Africa were in the hunt at 108-2 but suffered a major blow when AB de Villiers was run out for 30, beaten by Mohit Sharma’s fine flat throw from the deep.
David Miller (22) also suffered the same fate after getting a start – Umesh Yadav firing the ball back to wicketkeeper MS Dhoni with the batsman short of his ground.
Reflecting on the dismissals, Hall said: “AB mentioned the run outs; there’s all this talk about half-chances winning you games. We had two really bad run outs there.
“Dhoni said that India have worked on their fielding, especially the bowlers – that’s been one of the things that teams have picked on in the past; if India have got their fast bowlers in the outfield you would take them generally on for twos and put them under pressure.
“India really kept the pressure on – as MS said, their spinners really changed their pace quite a lot; he moved guys around, he had catchers around the bat. All of a sudden you feel that pressure consistently and you’re batter that’s in feels under pressure to do something out of the ordinary.”
South Africa’s next game is against West Indies on Friday but before then they will need to check on the fitness of seamer Vernon Philander, who left the field during India’s innings with a hamstring injury.
Hall told Sky Sports World Cup that Philander’s fitness won’t be the only issue on the selectors’ minds.
“If Philander does miss out, does Kyle Abbott come in? Quinton de Kock isn’t in great form at the moment so are they going to bring Rilee Rossouw in?
“If that happens, are they then going to put AB back in as wicketkeeper? Are they going to move De Kock down the order to try and accommodate these position changes? They’ve got a slight dilemma ahead of them, I feel.”
Watch highlights of India’s win over South Africa throughout the day on Sky Sports World Cup or with Hindi commentary on Zee Cinema (channel 790).
