The Nike marketing department will be feverishly working overtime producing extra Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane shirts after India crushed South Africa by 130 in their long-awaited World Cup clash at the MCG last night.
The Indian ODI team sponsor had a picnic at the expense of intense rivals Adidas, who sponsor two teams at the World Cup – South Africa and England.
The mathematical equation struck again – South Africa plus World Cup equals choke, while England can’t beat time, losing by 111 runs to Australia, and by eight wickets to New Zealand.
Nike’s laughing all the way to the bank.
But in other mathematical facts, there’s no way India should be able to beat South Africa so comfortably.
South Africa has won 21 ODIs against India in South Africa, and lost only five.
In neutral venues, South Africa has won 11 matches to seven.
That’s 33 to 12 to South Africa away from India, where it’s 13-10 to India at home.
Pretty conclusive – on paper.
The current ICC batting and bowling rankings tell a similar story.
The top Indian batsmen are Kohli, ranked three, Dhawan seven, and MS Dhoni nine, with Rohit Sharma 13.
But the South African bowlers boast one of the very best attacks in world ODIs, with Dale Steyn ranked three, Morne Morkel 10, leggie Imran Tahir 11, Vernon Philander 34 – which is far too low in my book – and Wayne Parnell at 35.
Yet India finished with 7-307 off their 50 overs last night – Dhawan top-scoring with a brilliant 137 off 146 with 16 fours and two sixes.
He shared two successive century partnerships with Kohli (46) for the second wicket, and Rahane (79) for the third.
That was game, set and match against such a potent attack.
But the South Africans had a far inferior attack to face with offie Ravi Ashwin the highest ranked Indian bowler at 21, with Mohammad Shami ranked 24.
The South Africans boasted AB de Villiers, ranked one, without peer as the world’s best ODI batsman. Virtually the same can be said of opener Hashim Amla, ranked two.
Opening batsman Quinton de Kok is ranked 10, Faf du Plessis 33, and David Miller 37.
Yet the South Africans could only muster 177 in reply off 40 overs against an ordinary attack that was supported by outstanding fielding – and choke batting.
de Villiers thought he was Usain Bolt, and couldn’t beat a rocket outfield return from Mohit Sharma to keeper Dhoni. Umesh Yadav pulled the same trick to run out the dangerous David Miller.
So the South African batting strength was neutralised by an honest hard-working Indian attack, where de Kock was out for seven, Amla 22, de Villiers 30, Miller 22, and JP Duminy six, leaving du Plessis top-scorer with 55.
Indian supporters were the vast majority of the massive 86,876 crowd, just shy of the world record 87,812 for the 1992 World Cup final at the MCG,
It was a cacophony of non-stop barracking that reached a crescendo when Dhawan reached his century.
The crowd will not forget last night in a hurry, a fitting tribute to an Indian side that never looked like losing.
But then, winners are grinners, just ask Nike.
Renegade
Guest
Very true.
AZ_RBB
Guest
"Relatively". Nothing is easy but England will be significantly easier than Australia or New Zealand.
Renegade
Guest
I don't think playing England in a quarter final will be easy for India.
Santhosh
Guest
Rightly Said..
Perry Bridge
Guest
definitely the feel of an India home match. Clearly for the TV audience - the advertisers into India were clamouring to get on board that game. It did seem that while the team was batting that there was ground music more attuned to that team - as South Africa batted we even had the banality of 'Africa' by Toto a couple of times - however, that also got played after one of the Indian wickets fell but for the first 40 overs there was precious little South African breakthrus to generate a South African linked tune.
Harish
Guest
After every loss last summer Dhoni emphasised on the process. And it is culminating in the WC. All that lossess trying out various theories are bringing forth results when it matters.
Harish
Guest
Who knows until Irelend plays Aussies. They are giving a hard time to any one they are playing against.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Just got back from Melbourne after a crazy 24hrs. What an unbelievable experience that was. For the last decade or so MCG has been right near the top of my bucket list but the stars just have never aligned until yesterday. The Indians really stepped up to the occasion and delivered the sort of cricket we had only seen in glimpses over the summer. Add to that a standard of fielding I don't think I've ever seen in an Indian team. This puts us in a good position to top the group and hopefully get a relatively easy quarter v England or Sri Lanka. The atmosphere was indescribable. It didn't matter if you were in the Swarmy Army or in a random part of the stadium, everyone was up and dancing even when not much was happening. To watch the game with what looked like around 70k Indians was simply amazing. One thing I found strange about yesterday was how everything was set up as if it was an India home game. The ground announcer was trying (and miserably failing) to start Indian chants and a lot of the advertising boarding had messages of support for India but nothing of the sort for South Africa. Despite being an Indian supporter, i found this a little strange and off putting. I return to Melbourne in 5 weeks for the final, hoping to be able to wear my Indian jersey with pride as well as relevance on that night.
Bobbo7
Guest
Are SA that good? Once the top 4 are out they looked decidely shaky - not looking good for them And is Steyn the bowler he was - does not seem to have the same impact recently
Mike from Tari
Guest
When are we going to get a contest, can't believe that the South Africans got the Colliwobbles again, they recruited Mr. Cricket to help them get over this problem maybe they should have recruited Captain Grumpy or Tugger Waugh, anyway the flogging was a shock.
Chinmusick
Roar Rookie
Yes, but your article stated individual player rankings. Not overall team rankings, Stan is right, if you went off the individual player rankings for Australia then you might fancy Ireland against them on paper.
Jake
Guest
Embarrassing result for SA. India are a poor side. They have been dominated all summer by Australia and later, England. How can such a talented batting line up succumb so easily to the popgun attack of India? Is this just a smokescreen by SA to lull everyone into a false sense of security?
David Lord
Expert
That's a "great" idea Stan McCan, the Australians aren't at all happy with being ranked the top ODI team in the world. As if.
Perry Bridge
Guest
It was so funny - sitting in the Olympic stand, Sachin Tendulkar was in the box just up above us and whenever the window opened and he was there the number of Indian fans rushing to position themselves to get a photo, and chanting 'Sachin, Sachin'.....he waved and from where we were we could just see his hand.....it was like royalty. We reminded my son and daughter that a few years back they were Milo cricketers on the ground and did a guard of honour as Sachin walked out onto the same turf they'd play on. The atmosphere at the 'G was amazing. Every 4 and in particular 6 - and then every wicket - the cannon fired blast of crowd noise physically hit you. Perhaps explain to a soccer fan imagine Australia in a world cup game scoring 20 goals and each cheered as if it were the only goal. The sea of Indian flags - for a neutral as my family were - was astounding. I do lament in part that the Australian crowd these days has been dumbed down so much that they'd struggle to come close to the passion and colour of the Indians. Let alone the hero worship they have for Sachin. (Warnie? McGrath? Punter?). My kids found school mates there - one Indian, and one South African. Strangely though to neutrals this game was practically invisible. Glad we were there. Channel 9 obviously wasn't going to be and weren't. Their loss. After the Indian innings it was clear that spin might be the key and Jadeja and Ashwin bowling in tandem put the screws on the South African innings. It ironic that Tahir and Duminy looked the tidiest of the South African bowlers - but they didn't dare bowl them in tandem for an extended period. Clearly South Africa had to take their chances and one in particular - Amla dropping Darwan on 55 was a crucial blow - around that time they could've been getting India say 3-100 and put some pressure on. As it turned out - India entered the last 10 with 8 in hand although South Africa finished off much better and India might have felt they were 10-20 short of where they should've been. It proved more than enough.
Stan McCan
Guest
Would not be taking too much notice of the rankings. Otherwise you would think that the Aussies had no chance.
Darshan Kawar
Roar Pro
Indian attack was not at all ordinary. If you have watched India's both games closely, Shami, Ashwin and Mohit Sharma bowled pretty well. Shami in particular has looked quite sharp and has hit the deck hard. Same goes for Yadav. Ashwin too varied his deliveries cleverly to which Pak and SA batsmen had no clue.