DURBAN: South Africa's fast bowlers struck early to set up a comprehensive 135-run win in the first One-Day International against India at Kingsmead Wednesday. Chasing a target of 290, India's hopes were effectively ended when it was reduced to 43-4 in the 11th over. Despite a half- century by Virat Kohli it was bowled out for 154. “We were outplayed completely,” admitted Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni said the one-day specialists in his team had been restricted in their practice opportunities because of rain. South African captain Graeme Smith, meanwhile, hailed ‘a pretty complete' performance in the opening match of a five-game series, with particular praise for the bowlers. “We were superb with the ball,” he said. Dale Steyn dismissed Murali Vijay in the first over and left-arm bowler and Man of the Match Lonwabo Tsotsobe picked up the key wicket of Sachin Tendulkar three overs later. Morne Morkel, who came on as first change, took two wickets in one over as the Indian batsmen failed to come to terms with the pace and bounce of a Kingsmead pitch with a reputation for being more lively in the second innings of day-night games. Tsotsobe went on to claim four wickets for 31 runs, while fellow pacemen Steyn and Morkel took two each and left-arm fast bowler Wayne Parnell took one. Hashim Amla got the South African innings off to a fast start, scoring 50 off 36 balls with eight fours but the home side's total of 289 for nine was built around a 131-run fourth wicket partnership between AB de Villiers and JP Duminy. De Villiers hit 76 off 69 balls, while Duminy scored 73 off 89 deliveries. While they were together South Africa looked on target for a total of more than 300 but both fell to the part-time off-spin of Rohit Sharma instead of cashing in towards the end of the innings. In a departure from their normal tactics, South Africa took the batting powerplay after 27 overs and it seemed to pay off as De Villiers and Duminy added 45 runs in five overs and forced India to use some of their better bowlers early. But De Villiers holed out to deep midwicket and Duminy was leg before wicket when he missed an attempted reverse sweep, leaving South Africa without a specialist batsman for the last eight overs in which they were restricted to 45 runs while losing four wickets. Opening bowler Zaheer Khan took two for 44, with both his wickets coming in the last over of the innings, while Sharma's seven overs brought him two for 30. – Agence France
