After the Sachin Tendulkar special at Gwalior, Indian cricket fans were left to applaud, albeit grudgingly, a Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers tango as South Africa brought the curtain down on their tour with a commanding 90-run win in Ahmedabad last night.
Kallis and de Villiers smashed contrasting unbeaten centuries as South Africa, having already lost the series, put 365 for two on the board, with all four of their batsmen making 50-plus scores.
The score proved well beyond the makeshift team fielded by India. The hosts, missing Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, were bowled out for 275 in 44.3 overs after de Villiers had launched a blistering attack that helped South Africa score 115 runs from their last 10 overs, 59 of those coming in the final four.
After crossing the half-century mark off 37 deliveries, de Villiers scored his next 52 off just 22 balls.
The acceleration had an equal affect across the middle as Kallis, who took 68 balls for his first 50 runs, got the next 54 from 26.
Together they added 173 runs for the third wicket from just 17 overs after Loots Bosman and Hashim Amla had laid the foundations for the innings with a 113-run partnership for the first wicket.
Bosman set the tone with a fiery onslaught against the new ball, smashing seven fours and four sixes in 46-ball knock of 68.
Amla completed a memorable tour of India with a stylish knock. He looked set to bid farewell with a century, but top-edged a sweep 13 runs short of the mark.
The bearded batsman looked annoyed with himself as he left the pitch, but some of the disappointment must have been assuaged watching his replacement, de Villiers, take charge and thump the inexperienced India attack to all corners of the park.
India needed a similar knock from one of their top order to keep their hopes of a series sweep alive. But with experience thin, they got bogged down, taking 20 overs to reach 100.
MS Dhoni was the only regular in a batting line-up missing Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, but the India captain did not come out to bat till the 26th over, after the third wicket fell. By then, the match had virtually slipped out of India's grasp, with 230 runs needed at more than nine an over.
Dhoni lasted only seven balls before Mark Boucher dismissed him with a stunning catch, diving full-length to his right, and India's fate was sealed despite entertaining knocks from Suresh Raina (49) and Ravindra Jadeja (36), whose 54-run partnership for the seventh wicket came from just five overs.
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L Bosman c Jadeja b Pathan 68
H Amla c Vijay b Jadeja 87
J Kallis not out 104
AB de Villiers not out 102
Extras 2nb, 2lb 4
Total (2 wkts, 50 overs) 365
Fall of wickets: 1-113; 2-192
Bowling: Streesanth 9-0-83-0;
Tyagi 8-0-59-0; Mithun 8-0-63-0; Jadeja 10-0-53-1; Pathan 10-0-66-1; Kohli 2-0-11-0; Sharma 3-0-28-0
K Karthik c Amla b Steyn 11
M Vijay c Boucher b Tsotsobe 25
V Kohli c Boucher b Steyn 57
R Sharma c Tsotsobe b Botha 48
MS Dhoni c Boucher b Steyn 9
S Raina c sub b Botha 49
Y Pathan c Steyn b Tsotsobe 5
R Jadeja c Boucher b Tsotsobe 36
S Sreesanth lbw b Van der Merwe 1
A Mithun st Boucher b Van der Merwe 24
S Tyagi not out 1
Extras 4w, 5lb 9
Total (all out 44.3 overs) 275
Fall of wickets: 1-22; 2-40; 3-135; 4-156;
5-157; 6-179; 7-233; 8-237; 9-273; 10-275
Bowling: Steyn 8-1-37-3; Tsotsobe 9.3-0-58-3; Morkel 7-0-48-0; Van der Merwe 10-0-47-2; Botha 10-0-80-2
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.0-litre%20twin-turbo%20V8%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E680hp%20at%206%2C000rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E800Nm%20at%202%2C750-6%2C000rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERear-mounted%20eight-speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E13.6L%2F100km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Orderbook%20open%3B%20deliveries%20start%20end%20of%20year%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh970%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions