India: 179/1 | Overs 30 | Dhawan 90*, Kohli 15*
After a tight over from Duminy, Kleinveldt releases the pressure by
bowling a succor ball to Dhawan on his pads. Dhawan hits it past short
fine-leg for a boundary. The pressure is released. India just look for
singles after getting a boundary. Six have come off the over.
India: 173/1 | Overs 29 | Dhawan 85*, Kohli 14*
Duminy bowls four dot balls to Kohli. The fifth ball is hit to long-off
for a single. The final ball is defended by Dhawan. So only one run has
come off the Duminy over. A good over for them. But still no wicket
taken.
India: 172/1 | Overs 28 | Dhawan 85*, Kohli 13*
Kleinveldt tries to bounce Kohli out. But Kohli is ready with the task
and pulls him in front of square-leg for a couple of runs. Only four
have come off the over. Wickets is what South Africa needs.
FACT: The highest score in the Champions Trophy history is by New Zealand(347) against United States of America at the Oval.
India: 168/1 | Overs 27 | Dhawan 84*, Kohli 10*
Duminy comes onto bowl. Indians have scored four singles off the over
with no real difficulties. They are looking good. South Africa are
looking for the second wicket. No bowler is looking like picking it up.
India: 164/1 | Overs 26 | Dhawan 82*, Kohli 8*
Dhawan hits the first ball wide off deep point and runs two. Off the
third ball Kohli places the ball softly towards square-leg and runs two.
The last ball is a tad short and Dhawan pulls it in front of square
towards mid-wicket for a boundary. Ten have come off the over. Dhawan is
looking solid.
India: 154/1 | Overs 25 | Dhawan 75*, Kohli 5*
Since the square boundaries are long the fielders are placed just a bit
inside to prevent couples. But twice Dhawan has hit the ball over the
deep fielders. Kleinveldt bowls one short to Dhawan who smashes the ball
over the head of deep mid-wicket. Eight have come off the 25th over.
India: 146/1 | Overs 24 | Dhawan 69*, Kohli 3*
Tsotsobe comes into the attack. He is bowling back of the length
deliveries. The fourth ball is a short delivery to Dhawan who just
arches his back and hits the ball over wicket-keeper AB de Villiers's
head for a boundary. The final ball is carted over long-off for a
massive six. Good way to finish the over.
India: 134/1 | Overs 23 | Dhawan 58*, Kohli 2*
Peterson is not causing much trouble. Dhawan is looking to chip down
the track and smother spin. Five have come off the over. India looking
to consolidate for a few overs. The Delhi duo will be looking to forge a
partnership.
India: 129/1 | Overs 22 | Dhawan 54*, Kohli 1* OUT! Rohit 65 (81)
Rohit Sharma falls for 65. He looks to go for a pull to not such a
short delivery. He was cramped for room and ended up offering a simple
catch to deep mid-wicket. McLaren gives some chin music to Virat Kohli
first up. South Africa finally get the first breakthrough.
India: 126/0 | Overs 21 | Rohit 65*, Dhawan 52*
Morkel bowls a front-foot no-ball off the final delivery. But Rohit
fails to take advantage of the free-hit. A tidy over from Morkel
nevertheless. Only three runs have come off the over.
FACT:
This is the first 100+ opening-wkt stand for India outside the
subcontinent since March 2009. It was 201 unbeaten stand between
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir against New Zealand at Hamilton
India: 123/0 | Overs 20 | Rohit 63*, Dhawan 51*
Dhawan brings up his second ODI fifty with a tight single. He pushes
the ball towards covers and sets off for a single. It was a similar
manner in which he got his first Test hundred. Rohit hits McLaren
towards covers for a boundary. India are making merry. Eight have come
off the over.
FACT: This is Shikhar Dhawan's second fifty in ODIs. The first one was against West Indies.
India: 115/0 | Overs 19 | Rohit 58*, Dhawan 49*
Morne Morkel comes into the attack. AB de Villiers is looking for
wickets. Rohit is probably seeing the ball like a football. He gets into
a good position and hits the short ball in front of square-leg. Seven
runs have come off Morkel's comeback over. But no wicket yet.
FACT: Seam bowlers have taken 82 per cent wickets at Cardiff.
India: 108/0 | Overs 18 | Rohit 53*, Dhawan 48*
McLaren has hit Dhawan's helmet. The ball ricocheted off his helmet and
went to square-leg for one leg-bye. Five runs have come off the over.
India are looking to hit the ball in the gaps. Ones and twos are all
what they are looking for. Both the batsmen are well-set.
India: 103/0 | Overs 17 | Rohit 51*, Dhawan 46*
JP Duminy being brought into the attack. Rohit gets onto his fifty with
a single past long-on. He played out a couple of dot balls at the start
of the over. Three singles have come off Duminy's first over. India are
just looking for singles in the middle part of the innings.
India: 101/0 | Overs 16 | Rohit 49*, Dhawan 45*
McLaren looks to bowl back of a length delivery but gives room to Rohit
who hits the ball past backward point for a couple of runs off the
first ball. India bring up century partnership. The opening combination
has clicked in the first game. Five have come off the over. Drinks being
called for.
India: 96/0 | Overs 15 | Rohit 45*, Dhawan 44*
Robin Peterson has been targeted by Shikhar Dhawan. The first two balls
were hit through the covers for a boundary. The feature of those shots
were the use of the feet. Dhawan smothered the spin by doing that. The
third ball was a full-toss which was swept behind square-leg for three
runs. Fourteen came off the 15th over.
India: 82/0 | Overs 14 | Rohit 43*, Dhawan 32*
South Africa are trying to bounce out the Indians. This time the plan
almost worked. Kleinveldt pitches one short to Dhawan who pulls the ball
but doesn't keep it down. Fine-leg came in a little and the ball goes
over him. The last ball has pulled through mid-wicket for a boundary by
Rohit.
India: 72/0 | Overs 13 | Rohit 38*, Dhawan 27*
Robin Peterson the left-arm spinner comes into the attack. He concedes
five runs. Indian openers are milking the bowling now. New ball has not
got wickets for South Africa. They are looking to be a tad defensive.
India: 67/0 | Overs 12 | Rohit 34*, Dhawan 26*
Kleindveldt tries a bouncer to Dhawan but it doesn't rise up. As a
result it turns to be a begign delivery which Dhawan swivels and hits it
past square-leg. The fourth delivery was a wide delivery for height.
Eight runs have come off the over.
India: 59/0 | Overs 11 | Rohit 32*, Dhawan 21*
McLaren is getting good bounce. He tries a bouncer to Rohit which
doesn't get up that much. Rohit gets into a good position and hits it
between square-leg and fine-leg. Rohit is looking dangerous.
India: 53/0 | Overs 10 | Rohit 27*, Dhawan 20*
Kleinveldt looking to look for the swing pitches one up to Dhawan who
smashes the ball through covers for three runs. The fourth ball was a
front-foot no-ball. But Dhawan gets just a single off the free-hit. Six
have come off the last Powerplay over.
India: 47/0 | Overs 9 | Rohit 26*, Dhawan 16*
Ryan McLaren starts his spell with a benign leg-side delivery which
Dhawan dispatches past fine-leg. Rohit slices the fourth ball of the
over past backward point for a single. This is an eight-run over. All of
a sudden South Africa are looking befuddled. They chose to bowl in
order to get early wickets. They have not got any wicket.
India: 39/0 | Overs 8 | Rohit 25*, Dhawan 11*
Rory Kleinveldt is the first change bowler. He tries to bounce out
Rohit. But Rohit hits him for a four over square-leg. The sound his bat
made was cracking. Two balls later a sublime cover-drive from Rohit
makes it a nine-run over for India. Rohit has got to a wonderful start.
India: 30/0 | Overs 7 | Rohit 17*, Dhawan 10*
Rohit is looking confident. He hooks Morkel behind square-leg for a
boundary. Still Morkel is bowling short of length and Rohit is still a
bit iffy yet he is selective. A compelling contest is on at Cardiff.
India: 26/0 | Overs 6 | Rohit 13*, Dhawan 10*
Rohit starts the sixth over with a hit over point for a six. Tsotsobe
bowls a wide length delivery for which he is punished. The last ball is
again a length delivery which Dhawan punches between covers and mid-off
for the best shot of the morning. Young Indian openers are off to a
steady start.
India: 15/0 | Overs 5 | Rohit 6*, Dhawan 6*
Morkel bowls a perfect bouncer to Dhawan who plays an ugly shot which
falls short of fine-leg. He is getting a lot of steep bounce. Only two
runs come off Morkel's third over. India are off to a cautious start.
India: 13/0 | Overs 4 | Rohit 6*, Dhawan 5*
Rohit gets on the groove with a sublime cover-drive. The balance while
playing the shot was excellent. The front foot is going to the ball in
confident fashion. Tsotsobe bowled a couple of wides down the leg-side.
He was a tad loose compared to his first over.
India: 7/0 | Overs 3 | Rohit 2*, Dhawan 5*
Morkel bowls in the corridor of uncertainty. South Africa have designed
a Test match like fielding - a couple of slips are waiting to catch
Dhawan's edge. Morkel is bowling an incessant line around off-stump. The
last ball was on the pads which Dhawan worked for a couple of runs.
India: 5/0 | Overs 2 | Rohit 2*, Dhawan 3*
Lonwabo Tsotsobe begins the first over with tight line outside
off-stump. Rohit leaves the deliveries. He edges the third ball which
falls just short of the second slip and Shikhar Dhawan sets off for a
risky single. He is lucky to survive. A direct hit would have ended his
stay. Dhawan hit the third ball straight for three runs.
India: 1/0 | Overs 1 | Rohit 1*, Dhawan 0*
Morne Morkel starts the first over well. There is a lot of bounce and
carry in the wicket. Rohit Sharma, India's opening batsman is watchful.
Only one run has come off the first over. India are a tad watchful. They
will look to negotiate the bowling early on.
Teams:
India:
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh
Karthik, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
South Africa:
Hashin Amla, Colin Ingram, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers (c & wk),
JP Duminy, David Miller, Ryan McLaren, Robin Peterson, Rory Kleinveldt,
Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
