South Africa's JP Duminy believes he produced "one of his best" innings to help his team chase down 200 in their tour-opener against India in Dharamsala on Friday night. India captain MS Dhoni agreed that Duminy "executed well", but said his team was "unfortunate" to not get him lbw when South Africa were still a way away from their target.
The incident Dhoni was referring to came in the 17th over of South Africa's chase, when Duminy and Farhaan Behardien were still repairing the damage done by three quick wickets earlier in the innings, which had threatened to derail their innings. At that point, with South Africa needing 43 off 23, a yorker from Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck Duminy's boot seemingly right in front of the stumps, but the umpire ruled not out.
"If decisions don't go in your favour, that also puts pressure and I thought we were unfortunate not to get Duminy," Dhoni said. "The game was evenly poised but that's how cricket is, you don't get everything in your favour. But I felt they also batted well, kept the momentum going which is important when you're chasing 200 runs."
India's triple-strike came after a rollicking opening partnership for South Africa, between AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, which knocked off 77 runs in 7.4 overs. Duminy said that stand set the pace: "I thought the way we started the innings, it was probably what we wanted chasing 200. We knew it was going to be a tough total to chase, probably just above par, but we were happy with that start."
Duminy put together an unbroken stand of 105 with Behardien to take the side home. Duminy, who hit seven sixes in his innings of 68 not out, brought the chase back on track in the 16th over, when he hit three consecutive sixes of left-arm spinner Axar Patel. He effectively finished the job by depositing debutant left-arm pacer S Aravind into the stands beyond midwicket with three balls to spare.
Speaking of the Axar over, Duminy said he had no choice but to go after him. "The situation of the game called for me to just go hammer and tongs. Myself and Behardien both said we need to take it on now and we don't want to die wondering at the end of the 20 overs. I was fortunate that a few were in my arc and cleared the boundary with a few, I was pretty happy with that over."
He was fortunate to get a full toss in the final over, he said, but given the conditions he was confident of getting a big hit away. "We knew if we get it down to 10-11 runs in the last over, we stood a chance. With this ground being a little bit small, and the altitude, so the ball travels a bit, so we knew we were in the game. Fortunately enough the left-armer missed his length a little bit, so gave me the opportunity to clear the boundary one more time."
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