South Africa can. Others can’t. South Africa’s ability to goof up in key games has denied them an ICC silverware, yet again. South Africa’s ridiculous consistency to crumble under pressure does not surprise any more.
India and South Africa were overwhelming favourites to finish in the top two from Group B in ICC Champions Trophy 2017. This contest was touted as one of the clashes of the tournament. All South Africa did was meekly surrendered to India. The only novelty here: They found a new way to implode.
CricketCountry’s Editor-in-chief Abhishek Mukherjee writes in his South Africa review: “In the 1996 World Cup they were knocked out on a questionable selection policy (Pat Symcox was picked ahead of Allan Donald). In 1999 they had a brain-fade when they needed 1 to score off 4 balls. In 2003 they miscalculated the Duckworth-Lewis numbers. In 2007 they went over-aggressive against Australia. In 2011 they went over-defensive against New Zealand. In 2015 they lost the plot on field, bowling loose balls and fielding terribly. Between that, in the 2002 Champions Trophy they went into an inexplicable shell and lost; and goodness knows what they did in the 2007 World T20.
Everything they had tried had succeeded, but that did not stop prevent them from experimenting with new methods of failing. This time they tried run outs; it worked.”
Prelude to the ‘run out’ trilogy: Hashim Amla ended up being South Africa’s lone centurion in this tournament. The classy batsman exhibited good form. Put into bat, they were off to a quiet start. Overs before Bhuvneshwar Kumar started moving the ball away from Quinton de Kock and cutting it in to Amla, this happened…
It was the third over of the innings. Amla had driven and set off for a quick single. Virat Kohli at mid-off was quick and threw off-balance, missing the stumps by a whisker. Usually, you do not challenge Kohli like that. That piece of senseless running drew flak from the commentators. It was unneeded. But South Africa did not learn.
AB-Faf, the saga continues: AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis are best mates, two pillars of South African cricket and have known each other since teenage days. Despite this, they have an incredible knack of crumbling to run outs in crucial games.
In 2011 World Cup quarter-final, South Africa seemed to cruise while chasing New Zealand’s paltry 221. A well-set de Villiers batting with the just-in du Plessis got involved in a mix-up that saw the end of former.
Then in 2015 World Cup, against India, both these men had performed a fine recovery job for South Africa in the chase of 308 when AB decided to test Mohit Sharma’s arms and perished.
Did they learn from the past?
South Africa were well placed in a high pressure game at 139 for 2 after 28 overs. They seemed on course for a big total. AB looked at ease and Faf kept the scoreboard ticking till this happened. Kohli was losing the plot.
Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni need to be credited, AB and Faf deserve the flak but not many noticed Ravindra Jadeja’s contribution in the mix up.
Jadeja had dished out seven consecutive dot balls to Faf, squaring him up on one occasion in the previous over. This dot would have been the eighth on a row. AB meanwhile had not played a single dot off the left-armer and was milking singles easily. Perhaps all AB was trying to do was help his buddy out by fetching him a single.
Faf challenged Pandya’s throwing from point region. The latter fired in a good throw; MS did what he does best. His quick hands were at play. AB pulled off an incredible dive and yet failed to make it. That wasn’t a run. Simply wasn’t. In a saner world, Faf should not have called for it. AB should have yelled ‘NO’.
“I take full responsibility for AB’s run out. That’s my fault. Obviously he [de Villiers] is a big player for us and he was looking good and it was a crunch time in the game. Big mistake from my part running AB out,” admitted Faf after the game. Kohli called this moment as the possible “turning point.”
Faf, Miller and a ‘comedy of errors’: Not all was lost after AB’s wicket. David Miler made his way out. The Indian fans were loud in the stand. Faf clearly instructed Miller to go for a risk-free approach and build a partnership. Five balls later, the third umpire was called again. It was not to confirm the run out but to check which batsman was in fact out.
The arrival of the left-handed Miller saw Kohli employ Ravichandran Ashwin from the other end. Ashwin’s presence was enough. South Africa found a way to depart. Du Plessis looked to cut the first ball of the over and found short third-man. He set off, hesitated and came back to the crease. Miller sprinted towards the strikers end and both the batters aimed to make it there. Kohli calmly dislodged the bails at non-strikers end as Faf won the race at striker’s end.
#INDvSA look at how David Miller was run out, him and Faf doing this whole cricket thing wrong. SMH #CT17 pic.twitter.com/896PshcK4Y
— Pholoho Selebano (@Pholoho) June 11, 2017
South Africa were 142 for 4 in the 30th over.
The trilogy completes: In the 35th over, Jadeja’s brilliant flick back almost saw JP Duminy’s end. He had just made it.
Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvi had wreaked havoc in South Africa’s late order and reduced them to 189 for 9 after 43 overs. You do not expect a lot from No.11 Imran Tahir. However, with Duminy going steady at the other end, all you can expect is giving him most of the strike.
In the 45th over, Duminy looked for two to retain strike but Tahir yelled ‘No’. The ball-watching Duminy continued running. He then responded to Tahir’s reluctance, who by now had spotted a mis-field from Kohli and sprinted. The background noise played its role as the communication barrier. The chaos. The throw was in. Duminy sent Tahir back. He dived but Dhoni took off the bail to end the 10-minute resistance from his Rising Pune Supergiant mate.
Tahir proved he is better with sprints only after he claims wickets.
South Africa got back to the dressing room with 33 balls remaining in this do-or-die clash.
What followed?
Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli struck fine fifties and chased down the total in 38 overs. A Yuvraj-six finished things off. India now have a 4-0 record against South Africa in Champions Trophy and more importantly have cruised to the semi-final of the tournament. Yet again, South Africa disappointed in an ICC event.
South Africa remain the No.1-ranked ODI side. AB, de Kock, Faf and Amla are ranked 1, 4, 6 and 10 in the ODI batting rankings respectively. Kagiso Rabada and Tahir occupy the top 2 spots in the ODI bowlers’ ranking. They entered the competition as favourites. They face a group stage exit. They do not surprise.
Written by 
