Kanpur, April 13
India made amends for the Ahmedabad debacle by thrashing South Africa by eight wickets within three days in a dramatic third and final cricket Test to level the three-match series 1-1 here today.

After two days of pulsating battle between bat and ball on an under-prepared Green Park track, the Indians tilted the balance decisively in their favour with a splendid all-round display to ensure that their impressive track record at home was kept intact.

The script could not have unfolded in a more heartening way for the hosts as they first took a crucial 60-run first innings lead by scoring 325 and then skittled out South Africa for a paltry 121 in just 55.5 overs in their second essay.

Needing 62 runs for victory, the Indians lost Virender Sehwag (22) and Wasim Jaffer (10) but former captains Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid steered the team home.

Rahul Dravid hit the winning runs by sweeping Paul Harris to the boundary at the fag end of the day, triggering off celebrations in the Indian dressing room.

None of the South African batsmen could hang around for long today on the deteriorating surface, making the defiant 46-run last wicket partnership between S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma all the more important.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 4-44 while Virender Sehwag returned with career-best Test figures of 8.5-2-12-3.

Ishant Sharma also played a big role taking two wickets for 18 runs.

Like the second Test in Ahmedabad, the match got over within three days but this time it was the home team which had the last laugh.

The South African second innings began poorly as they were reduced to 27 for two by lunch and could never really recover with the Indian bowlers exploiting the crumbling track to good effect.

The visitors showed signs of a fightback with captain Smith and the experienced Jacques Kallis batting resolutely to steady the ship but Sehwag's twin blows late in the post-lunch session put India in an advantageous position.

Both were a picture of concentration as they played cautiously against both seamers and spinners to help the team wipe out the deficit without losing any more wickets.

After the second drinks break, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni introduced Sehwag and he struck with his first delivery by scalping Kallis.

Sehwag bowled a quicker delivery outside off-stump and Kallis went back and across to play it, the ball spun sharply and Wasim Jaffer took a smart catch at short-leg.

Sehwag then did the star turn by getting the well-settled Smith bowled round the legs with a fastish delivery.

The South Africans took tea at a precarious 88 for four but the wickets started falling in a heap in the last session with AB de villiers (7), Mark Boucher (5), Morne Morkel (0) and Paul Harris (0) departing in quick succession to put the home team in control of the game. 

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st innings): 265

India (1st innings):

Jaffer lbw b Morkel 15

Sehwag lbw b Steyn 8

Dravid c de Villiers b Morkel 29

Laxman b Morkel 50

Ganguly c Amla b Steyn 87

Yuvraj c de Villiers b Harris 32

Dhoni st Boucher b Harris 32

Harbhhajan lbw b Steyn 6

Chawla c Smith b Ntini 4

Sreesanth c Prince b Harris 29

Ishant not out 14

Extras: (b-8, lb-6, nb-4, w-1): 19

Total: (all out in 99.4 overs): 325

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-35, 3-113, 4-123, 5-188, 6-248, 7-268, 8-279, 9-279, 10-325.

Bowling: Dale Steyn 20-1-71-3, Makhaya Ntini 21-7-47-1, Morne Morkel 15-2-63-3, Paul Harris 32.4-8-101-3, Jacques Kallis 9-1-23-0, Hashim Amla 2-0-6-0.

South Africa (2nd innings):

McKenzie lbw b Sreesanth 14

Smith b Sehwag 35

Amla c Jaffer b Harbhajan 0

Kallis c Jaffer b Sehwag 15

Prince not out 22

De Villiers c Laxman b Harbhajan 7

Boucher c Dhoni b Ishant 5

Morkel b Ishant 0

Harris c Dravid b Harbhajan 0

Steyn b Harbhajan 7

Ntini c Ganguly b Sehwag 0

Extras (b-12, lb-1, nb-2, w-1): 16

Total (all out in 55.5 overs): 121

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-27, 3-65, 4-72, 5-90, 6-101, 7-101, 8-102, 9-114.

Bowling: Harbhajan 23-7-44-4, Sharma 10-2-1-2, Sreesanth 9-4-9-1, Chawla 4-0-18-0, Sehwag 8.-2-12-3, Yuvraj 1-0-7-0.

India (2nd innings):

Jaffer lbw b Morkel 10

Sehwag c Prince b Harris 22

Ganguly not out 13

Dravid not out 18

Extras (nb-1): 1

Total (for two wickets in 13.1 overs): 64

Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-32.

Bowling: Steyn 2-0-15-0, Ntini 1-0-5-0, Harris 5.1-0-36-1, Morkel 5-1-8-1.— PTI 

Kanpur, April 13
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today attributed the "collective performance" of his team for India's victory in the third and cricket Test against South Africa and said it would be unfair to devalue the players' effort just because the track was helpful to the hosts.

"It is a credit to the players. Yes, the track was helpful but credit should go to the players for performing in such a way in difficult conditions. This win was very important for us," Dhoni said after India levelled the series 1-1 with a comfortable eight-wicket victory within three days today.

Dhoni said he did not expect the match to be over in the third day itself but it was made possible because his bowlers "bowled in the right areas" and kept pressure on the South African batsmen.

"Our bowlers really bowled well today. They bowled in the right areas and created a lot of pressure on the batsmen," he said.

Dhoni was not too critical of the under-prepared Green Park track and said every place had its own type of wickets.

"When you go to Australia you have bouncy tracks, in England you have tracks which help swing bowling. When you come to India, you should expect such kind of tracks. Every place has its own speciality," he said.

"It looked like a fourth day track. Usually such tracks change quickly and we knew it was a matter of time before it deteriorated rapidly," he said.

Dhoni lavished praise on the last-wicket pair of S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma for giving the team a crucial 60-run lead in the first innings.

"That was really crucial. It allowed us to gain a psychological advantage and play the mind game. Everything worked well for us today," Dhoni said.

On why he began the bowling operations in the second innings with Harbhajan Singh, he said, "we knew the ball will start turning. it was a deliberate decision. We also knew that after some time, the ball will start reverse swinging, and we wanted to keep our pacemen fresh."

Asked whether India should have gone into the game with three specialist spinners, Dhoni said, "on such a track, you don't need a third spinner.

"We knew Viru (Virender Sehwag) and Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) could chip in. In fact, our part time bowlers also did a very good job. It was not difficult to finalise the composition."

On whether he found captaining the Test team a bigger challenge, Dhoni said, "I am happy that everything I tried worked well. It is easier to captain in such conditions. But then you cannot replace Anil Kumble as captain or player. If he was playing, the match would not have lasted even three days".

"Captaining the team in T20, one-dayers or Tests has its own requirements. The team had the intensity and the will to win," said Dhoni, who became the first wicket-keeper to captain India in Tests.— PTI

Kanpur, April 13
South African captain Graeme Smith today said India's 60-run first innings lead turned the third and final cricket Test in favour of the hosts on a track where the "margin of error is too small".

"I think that 60-run lead in the first innings was the turning point. It was really crucial and it put us under pressure. Full credit to the Indians as they really bowled and utilised the conditions better," Smith said after the hosts won the match by eight wickets to level the three-match series 1-1.

"It is a track where the margin of error is too small. There were some little things which we could have done better. Once India got that lead, it was difficult to come back, the last wicket pair really frustrated us", he said.

Smith said a target of 150 or so would have given his team a chance but they could not exert much pressure for a target of 62.

"I think a target of 150 would have been challenging as the wicket was deteriorating quickly. But a target of just 62 gave them the freedom to play their shots as they knew it was not a big score. In the end, I think that first innings lead was crucial."

Smith said his bowlers were too anxious to dismiss the last wicket pair and a result could not bowl in the right areas, unlike th Indians who exploited the conditions well.

"The Indian bowlers really bowled well. Also full credit to Sourav Ganguly, it was his fantastic knock which helped India come back into the game".

Though Smith was "disappointed" with the loss, he said his team will take a lot of positives from the tour.

"It is difficult to beat India at home. But we have done well here and will take a lot of positives from this tour. We have done well in the sub-continent this summer beating Pakistan and Bangladesh. We are confident of competing well in the coming series against England and South Africa."

On whether he was happy with the team he was given in view of the selection policy which makes it mandatory for a certain number of black or coloured players to be selected, he said "I don't want to raise such issues. I only hope that there are not too many mishaps about team selections and administrative issues in the future."

Asked to rate Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain, Smith said "It is far too early to rate him as captain after just one Test match. He can only be judged after a few Tests". — PTI 

Morale plays an important psychological part in a team game and nowhere was this more evident than on the morning of the third day's play when Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma defied all that South African bowlers had to throw at them.

Their's was the kind of partnership that brings a smile on the faces especially of their more accomplished batting teammates and has the dressing room in a lighter and more positive mood as it prepares to go out and bowl.

On the other hand, the opposition having failed to separate the last wicket pair in an hour or so gets increasingly frustrated and the mood becomes angrier. This is not the best way to go out to bat and leads to some rather rash strokes.

Neil Mackenzie, who had batted so splendidly throughout the series and with a preference for stroking in the 'v', attempted to pull a ball which on this pitch with the variable bounce was asking for trouble and that's what he got.

So what Sreesanth had done was not only to get the opposition riled with his batting but also an important wicket with the new ball.

It was good to see that the Indian tailenders had learnt from the Ahmedabad experience and were not going to give their wicket away easily.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni seemed to have a magic wand for just about every time he made a bowling change he got a wicket. His use of Virender Sehwag was superb and as at Perth in that famous win the Delhi dasher got two crucial wickets of the captain Smith, who was batting well, and Jaques Kallis, who was bringing all his experience into play with clever mix of the use of the pads and the sweep shot from outside the off-stump.

The others unfortunately did not have the experience nor the inventiveness needed on such a surface and succumbed rather tamely to Harbhajan.

Ishant Sharma also kept the pressure up and India were aware that getting in excess of 100 was not going to be easy at all.

Dhoni smartly had a semi-attacking field with fielders in catching positions as well as posted to ensure that easy boundaries to third man and deep point were not given away.

If South Africa were looking for early wickets to rattle India they were denied by some audacious batting by Sehwag and then the calm and cool approach of the experienced duo of Dravid and Ganguly.

The in-form Ganguly's promotion to number three again showing refreshingly that Dhoni is not one to go by set numbers but by current form and touch. He may not swear by experience in limited overs cricket but he will be the first to acknowledge that it is vital in Test cricket as the Prince of Kolkatta stylishly displayed in the first innings too.

India deserve the compliments for coming back after the demoralizing three-day loss in Ahmedabad and for keeping their poise on a surface that demanded the maximum in temperament and technique and denying the Proteas a hat-trick of wins in the sub-continent. — PMG

Durban, April 13
Two South African provincial cricket teams have reportedly been offered around $ 100,000 to release some of their top players for the first week of the Indian Premier League, which they would otherwise miss because of domestic commitments.

The Titans players the IPL wanted released early are Albie Morkel, A B de Villiers and Dale Steyn but the club turned down the offer, Johannesburg-based 'Sunday Times' reported.

The Cape Cobras are reported to have been offered more than $ 100,000 for the release of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher, the paper claimed.— PTI 

Hyderabad, April 13
India XI rode on a fine half century by Tejinder Pal Singh (52) and three-wicket haul by Ganapati Vignesh (3/22) to thrash Pakistan XI by 32 runs in their last league match and book a berth in the final of Indian Cricket League 20s World Series tournament here tonight.

Put in to bat by Pakistan XI captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, India XI scored 176 for six in their stipulated 20 overs with Tejinder top-scoring with a hurricane 32-ball 52 and his skipper Ibrahim Khaleel chipping in with a 30-ball 35.

For Pakistan XI, Arshad Khan was the most successful bowler taking two wickets for 29 runs while Riaz Afridi and Naved-ul-Hasan returning with figures of 1/16 and 1/37 respectively.

In reply, Pakistan XI began well scoring at a brisk pace and they were 40 for one in the third over but lost way later on.

Indian bowlers applied pressure in the middle overs and the required run rate for the Pakistan side kept on mounting before they virtually gave up chasing the target towards the end.

Vignesh returned figures of 3/22 from his four overs and Ghulam Murtaza supported him with 2 for 22.

With this win, India XI have collected six points from four matches in the two-leg league with three wins and one loss.

Pakistan XI and World XI are on identical two points each from three matches and the winner between the two teams tomorrow will take on India XI in the final on April 15.

Brief Scores:

India XI 176 for 6 in 20 overs (T P Singh 52, I Khaleel 35; Arshad Khan 2/29) beat Pak XI 144 for 6 in 20 overs (Hasan Raza 46, Abdul Razzaq 38, Imran Farhat 33; G Vignesh 3/22, A Murtaza 2/22). — PTI 

New Delhi, April 13
Giancarlo Fisichella vividly remembers how his decision to join Force India evoked sneers from his peers. But it took him just three races to embarrass the naysayers and the veteran Italian driver says he now feels vindicated.

Then a Renault refugee, Fisichella's decision to join the Vijay Mallya-owned side was ridiculed in some quarters, considering how the team, in its Spyker avtar, struggled with the backmarker's tag for the 2007 season.

But much to everyone's surprise, Fisichella, despite driving a comparatively disadvantaged car, was seen fighting with Renault drivers for positions on more than one occasion.

And, Fisichella argues, it proves that his decision to join the side was not a wrong one. — PTI

New Delhi, April 13
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi brought alive the "dead" rubbers when they opted to play in the reverse singles, but Japan denied the hosts a clean sweep as they swept the matches to make the scoreline 3-2 and salvage some pride in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I tie at the R.K.Khanna Stadium here today.

The sparsely filled stands were stirred into enthusiasm when Mahesh Bhupathi walked in to face Kei Nishikori in the first match of the reverse singles, in place of Prakash Amritraj. Though Bhupathi, who last played a Davis Cup singles match in 2001, put up a game fight in the first set, his legs were not prepared to match the footwork of the young and energetic Nishikori, and was a total washout in the second set, with the 18-year-old Japanese boy romping home 7-5, 6-1 in 53 minutes.

But Leander Paes, though out of singles practice for quite some time, showed that he was not rusty in body and mind when he fought till the end before losing to the left-handed Satoshi Iwabuchi 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 in one hour and 58 minutes.

Though Leander was broken in the fifth and seventh games of the first set, he broke back in the eighth, but Iwabuchi held serve in the 10th to wrest the set.

Leander hit some blinding service winners, including aces, and smashed pleasing forehands to delight the spectators.

Iwabuchi, who saved two break points to hold serve in the second game of the second set, cracked in the 10th game to drop serve and give Leander the set.

But in the decider, Leander was broken in the very first game, but saved two break points to hold serve in the ninth. Leander could have made a match of it had he cashed in on two break points in the tenth game when Iwabuchi was serving for the set and the match. And to fill Leander's cup of sorrow, his back hand got tangled in the net to give away the match point.