India beat South Africa to win Future Cup

BELFAST: Yuvraj Singh's unbeaten 61 helped India clinch an edge-of-the-seat thriller and beat South Afica by six wickets for a rare cricket series triumph abroad on Sunday.

Chasing 149 to win in 31 overs in the rain-curtailed series decider, India faltered and fumbled before picking up themselves to reach 152 for four in 30.2 overs at Stormont ground.

Yuvraj top scored with unbeaten gutsy innings of 61 off 85 balls that included six boundaries besides a six, while Rahul Dravid contributed 36.

After Dravid left the scene (108-4), Yuvraj and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (not out 14) put their heads down to negotiate the daunting run-a-ball chase.

Earlier, India reduced their opponents to 28 from four but a 99-run stand between Justin Kemp (61) and Herschelle Gibbs (56) propped up South Africa for a decent total of 148 for seven in 31 overs.

With the series levelled at 1-1, all eyes were on the final match but due to rain and wet outfield, the match was reduced to a 31-overs-a-side contest.

And if South Africa had a disastrous beginning after being asked to take first strike in the seamer friendly conditions, it was no different with India. Sourav Ganguly (17) and Sachin Tendulkar (8), who had laid the foundation for India's win in the previous match with a century stand, got a life each but could not capitalise on that.

Tendulkar was lucky to have edged one through slips and still got away with a boundary but it took just four deliveries for Makhaya Ntini to settle the score.

Tendulkar nicked the last ball of the second over to see an airborne Mark Boucher pull off a one-handed blinder.

Gautam Gambhir (5) survived a mix-up with Ganguly before plotting his own peril by dragging a Dale Steyn delivery onto his stumps.

The crisis deepened when Ganguly, dropped by Jacques Kallis on one, too departed, leaving India reeling at 38 for three inside nine overs.

India were in dire need of a solid partnership but both Yuvraj and Dravid hardly looked convincing.

Yuvraj too was dropped in the slips off Kallis, while Dravid found the all-pace South African attack too hot to handle. But to their credit, both hung on, swapping glitz for grit.

Dravid hit his counterpart Kallis for three boundaries in the 23rd over to take India past the 100-mark before throwing away his wicket.

Responding to Yuvraj's call for a quick single, Dravid was virtually strolling to the non-striker end only to see a Boucher throw disturb the stumps. It was a rare lapse on the Indian captain's part, who did not even ground his bat.

Yuvraj, however, kept his cool and milked the South African attack. He waited for the right opportunity and ran hard between the wickets. The dashing left-hander never allowed the pressure get the better of him and came up with a match-winning knock that also earned him the Man of the Match award.

Earlier, put into bat in difficult conditions, South Africa ran into trouble straightway with comeback man Ajit Agarkar and Ganguly coming up with two-wicket bursts each.

Keen to make his mark in the series after missing the first two matches with flu, Agarkar trapped in-form Morne van Wyk for a duck with his fifth delivery and then sent down gem of a delivery that hit a bamboozled Jacques Kallis' off stump past his flailing blade. Like van Wyk, the South African skipper too did not trouble the scorer.

AB de Villiers (15) got two lives in the eventful fifth over by Zaheer Khan when umpire Aleem Dar failed to sight a thick edge and, in the next delivery, Gambhir grassed a catch at short leg.

Ganguly, however, ensured that the opener did not make the most of the lives he got. On a condition that suited his bowling, Ganguly was in fact on a hat-trick after removing de Villiers and Jean-Paul Duminy (0) with successive deliveries.

de Villiers perished offering a bat-pad catch, while Duminy was rapped on the pad by a slightly faster delivery after an attempted flick.

Kemp foiled Ganguly's hat-trick bid even though he was not very convincing as he inside edged it to fine leg. South Africa found itself in a morass at 28 for four inside 13 overs.

Their back against the wall, Kemp and Gibbs decided attack was the best defence and counter-attacked with Piyush Chawla and Yuvraj Singh bearing the brunt of the charge.

Zaheer eventually yorked Gibbs after a 67-ball knock of 56, which included three fours and two sixes.

Kemp's run-a-ball 61 came to an end in the final over when Tendulkar, hit for a six in the previous ball, castled him. Kemp hit five boundaries and two sixes in his knock.

SCOREBOARD

South Africa:
AB de Villiers c Dhoni b Ganguly 15
Morne van Wyk lbw b Agarkar 0
Jacques Kallis b Agarkar 0
Herschelle Gibbs b Khan 56
Jean-Paul Duminy lbw b Ganguly 0
Justin Kemp b Tendulkar 61
Mark Boucher not out 11
Andrew Hall c Karthik b Tendulkar 1

Extras: (bye 1, leg byes 3) 4
Total: (for 7 wickets in 31 overs) 148
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (van Wyk, 1.5 overs), 2-8 (Kallis, 3.4), 3-28 (de Villiers, 12.2), 4-28 (Duminy, 12.3), 5-127 (Gibbs, 28.2), 6-144 (Kemp, 30.2), 7-148 (Hall, 30.6)

Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 7 0 29 1
Ajit Agarkar 6 0 21 2
Rudra Pratap Singh 6 2 15 0
Sourav Ganguly 6 0 24 2
Piyush Chawla 3 0 28 0
Yuvraj Singh 2 0 17 0
Sachin Tendulkar 1 0 10 2

India:
Sourav Ganguly c Boucher b Nel 19
Sachin Tendulkar c Boucher b Ntini 8
Gautam Gambhir b Steyn 5
Rahul Dravid run out (Boucher) 32
Yuvraj Singh not out 61
Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 14

Extras: (lb 3, w 4, nb 3) 10
Total: (for 4 wickets in 30.2 overs) 152
Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Tendulkar, 1.6 overs), 2-20 (Gambhir, 4.4), 3-36 (Ganguly, 8.5), 4-108 (Dravid, 24.3)

Bowling:
Dale Steyn 6 0 37 1 (1w)
Makhaya Ntini 7 2 16 1
Andre Nel 5.2 1 23 1 (2w)
Andrew Hall 6 0 28 0 (1nb)
Jacques Kallis 4 0 36 0 (2nb, 1w)
Justin Kemp 2 0 9 0

Man of the Match: Yuvraj Singh
Man of the Series: Sachin Tendulkar
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Mark Benson (England)
TV umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand)
Match referee: Alan Hurst (Australia)