The beautiful city of Lucknow hosted a stirring Test match between Indian and South African teams from the 1st decade of the 21st century. The visitors eventually won at a canter on the 5th afternoon.
This was a Test match memorable for 3 outstanding performances. Indian cricketing icon MS Dhoni came in to bat at 124-4 and scored a magnificent unbeaten 166 which combined power and finesse. Dhoni put on 156 for India's 9th wicket with fast bowler Srinath which, it seemed, put the hosts in a formidable position. But South Africa's wholehearted quick Ntini proved a thorn in India's side, prizing out Sehwag and Dravid twice in the match and taking 5-35 in the 2nd inns.
Arguably the most decisive contribution in the Test came from AB De Villiers who scored 114no off 210 balls in South Africa's 1st innings and was there to hit the winning runs, 38 off 48. He also took 4 vital catches. Without AB's ton India would have been out of sight and Ntini's heroics would have counted for little. He was justifiably MOM, but then this was a contest in which most of his team mates excelled themselves.
India 2000s: G Gambhir, V Sehwag. RS Dravid, SC Ganguly (c), VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, J Srinath, Ishant Sharma
South Africa 2000s: GC Smith (c), HH Gibbs, ND McKenzie, AB de Villiers, JH Kallis, MV Boucher (wk), N Boje, DW Steyn, M Ntini, A Nel, PR Adams
India 2000s 1st Innings 390-10 (112.5 Ov)
MS Dhoni 166*, J Srinath, 59, V Sehwag 53, DW Steyn 3-83, M Ntini 2-49, N Boje 2-58
South Africa 2000s 1st Innings 326-10 (114.4 Ov)
AB de Villiers 114*, GC Smith 70, HH Gibbs 46, Munaf Patel 3-57, Ishant Sharma 3-65, Harbhajan Singh 2-62
India 2000s 2nd Innings 137-10 (46 Ov)
Yuvraj Singh 62, M Ntini 5-35, DW Steyn 3-44, PR Adams 2-20
South Africa 2000s 2nd Innings 204-3 (47.2 Ov)
GC Smith 71, HH Gibbs 71, AB de Villiers 38*, J Srinath 2-34
South Africa 2000s win by 7 wickets
Man of the Match: AB de Villiers
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