Why India lost to South Africa/

India lost to South Africa in the Cricket World Cup 2011 Group B match. South Africa prevailed in a match that went to the last over. While India failed during their last 10 overs of batting, South Africa held their nerves during their last 10 overs to finish the match in their favour.

India's loss could be attributed to two main reasons:

1. India's poor performance in the batting powerplay and the overs that followed: India took the powerplay in the 39th over, when they were comfortably placed at 267 for 1. Sachin and Gambhir had put together a 125 run partnership in less than 22 overs and they are well settled to accelerate. There were some criticism in the media on taking the powerplay at this stage. But, I have no complaints on that. India is perfectly positioned to take the powerplay and they could have just exploded. But, as happened in the Netherlands match, Sachin, Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan lost their wickets in very quick succession. Those who followed them never realized the situation and the importance of batting 50 overs. Only the captain Dhoni was willing to bat through. Nobody else was to be around. Nehra's expression after he was dismissed showed how guilty he felt in giving away the wicket. From 267 for 1, India finished at 296 all out. Four batsmen failed to open their account. What a wasted opportunity to beat South Africa? Once again, Tendulkar's century goes in vain, as it happes often.
2. The last over bowled by Nehra: I was not comfortable when Dhoni gave the ball to Nehra. I thought Harbhajan was bowling well and he could have been a better choice. But, cannot complain too much on Dhoni. Nehra is a frontline bowler and he should have handled it better against a No.9 batsman.