South Africa looking to draw level

South Africa will feel hard done by the defeat on Sunday and look to square the series, with a win in the second ODI at Gwalior.

India find themselves one up in the 3-ODI series with the last-ball victory on Sunday, but one would surely have to say it was a touch fortunate. They were well ahead of South Africa for most of the match and should have closed out the game, much more convincingly. However, the lack in quality of the bowling options came to the fore as they struggled to break the ninth wicket partnership between Wayne Parnell and Dale Steyn. To make matters worse, they were also conceding runs at a very high rate, which allowed the opposition to stage a comeback and nearly pull of a miraculous win. A few changes could be expected to the bowling line-up with Sudeep Tyagi available in reserve. Their batting performance, in contrast was pretty impressive, considering they were without Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh in the middle order.

South Africa, on the other hand would consider themselves very unfortunate to have missed out on a glorious comeback in Jaipur. Their bowling struggled with Wayne Parnell, Albie Morkel and Johan Botha, conceding an economy of over six and allowing India to post a big total on the board. Their efforts in the field need a special mention as they did an excellent job in saving runs. The visitors started on-track in their run chase but once the openers went, they started to lose wickets at regular intervals, failing to put on significant partnerships on the board. The game looked like slipping away but a mammoth effort from Parnell and Steyn kept them in. It went down to the last ball and they lost, but surely it was hope more than expectation that left them disappointed. Their batsmen would have to put in a much better performance in Gwalior if they are to get anything out of the series.