After losing the toss the South Africans were chasing leather as the Indians looked set to score well in excess of the 298 they managed in the first ODI in Jaipur. The early loss of Virender Sehwag didn't hurt the home side at all as Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik brought up brisk half-centuries on a road of a pitch with an array of elegant strokes to keep the crowd entertained. The margin for error was very little on a pitch where the ball was coming on to the bat very easily. Tendulkar and Karthik had the freedom to drive through the line and each time they pierced the gaps, there was a minimum of two runs for the taking. The racy, yet bumpy outfield only made things tougher for the fielding side.
Only an error on the part of the batsman could have yielded a wicket, and that's what happened to Sehwag. Aiming to hit Wayne Parnell down the ground, he took his bottom hand off the bat at the point of contact, and Dale Steyn took the catch above his head at third man.
Tendulkar was in his element, flicking off his pads and driving neatly through the off side using the pace of the ball. He began by squirting out a half-volley from Parnell through the covers before flicking the next one off his pads past midwicket. Steyn tried to bowl it a bit shorter but Tendulkar responded by pulling him over midwicket and slashing over point. Even the introduction of spin didn't help as Tendulkar gently tucked Roelof van der Merwe off his pads past short fine leg to bring up his fifty, off just 37 balls.
Seeing that there was no movement off the seam, Jacques Kallis took off a slip and placed a short cover. Pretty soon, he abandoned the idea of having a slip, placing him at short midwicket, hoping for one of them to chip in the air off the drive. He then placed a sweeper cover, which was more of a defensive ploy. But it didn't yield immediate results.
Karthik too made merry with shots on both sides of the wicket. Like Tendulkar, he began with consecutive fours off Parnell and kept rotating the strike. His fifty - off 59 balls - wasn't as quick as Tendulkar's but their partnership set up a perfect platform for India.
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