Sharma, Yadav fail to make any impact

DURBAN: Expectations were high, but Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma failed to come to the party. The Kingsmead pitch was a pacers' ally and Indian captain MS Dhoni had expected that the duo would give the team initial breakthroughs. But neither Umesh nor Ishant bowled either too full or too short, much to Dhoni's disappointment.

Dhoni, though, wasn't too critical of his pacers. "They were OK in the first 10 overs with the ball coming onto the bat...That's why I introduced spinners after the 10th," Dhoni said after the match.

But the figures do not make for happy reading. Umesh bowled only six overs, while Ishant bowled one more, giving away 83 runs between them without claiming a wicket.

Former South African captain Shaun Pollock, though, echoed Dhoni's assessment of Umesh and Ishant. "This pitch was probably not as favourable for the pacers as it was in Johannesburg...I think they will need a little more time to get into the groove and deliver," Pollock told TOI on Sunday. "They are coming off pitches in the sub-continent where the length has to be much fuller...It's still early days on this tour," Pollock added.

By their own admission, India are treating the one-dayers more like practice games and Kepler Wessels had suggested that the pitch at Centurion, the venue of the third ODI, will also be favourable for the pacers. "The Centurion pitch is more like the one in Johannesburg where the ball will be flying around...India should play their top pacers in that game to see how they shape up before the Tests," Wessels said.

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Shweta Pandey

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