India Vs South Africa 2Nd Odi

Thirty-nine years without a two hundred

One-day international cricket had been played since 1971, and in almost thirty-nine years no batter had reached 200 in a single innings. Viv Richards, Saeed Anwar, Charles Coventry and others had come close with scores in the 190s, but the number had never been reached, and it had become one of the format's enduring landmarks, spoken of the way a batting average of 100 is in Test cricket. Sachin Tendulkar, then thirty-six years old and in his twentieth year of international cricket, had already scored more centuries and more runs in ODIs than anyone in the format's history by 2010. He batted at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior on 24 February 2010, in the second of the series against South Africa, against an attack led by Dale Steyn, then considered among the finest fast bowlers in the world, and became the first player in the format's history to reach the mark.

Sehwag falls, Tendulkar does not

MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat. Virender Sehwag was caught for 9 in the fourth over, leaving India 25 for 1, and from there Tendulkar batted through the rest of the innings without being separated from the crease. He faced Steyn, Wayne Parnell, Charl Langeveldt, Jean-Paul Duminy and Roelof van der Merwe across the full fifty overs, finding boundaries throughout the innings rather than in one concentrated burst, working the ball into gaps in the early overs before increasing the tempo through the middle and late stages. Dale Steyn, opening the bowling, went for 89 runs from his ten overs without taking a wicket, a rare sight for a bowler of his reputation.

Karthik and the middle overs

Dinesh Karthik, recalled to the side and batting at number three, supported Tendulkar through the middle overs, the pair adding 194 for the second wicket before Karthik was caught for 79 in the 34th over, an innings that has often been overlooked given what followed it but that gave Tendulkar the platform to build his own innings without urgency. Tendulkar had already reached his century by that point and kept accelerating, the South African bowlers unable to find a way past him even as the required rate for a fast finish grew and fielders were posted to the boundary in increasing numbers.

Pathan, Dhoni and the final assault

Yusuf Pathan came in and made a rapid 36 from 23 balls before he was caught, and MS Dhoni joined Tendulkar for the closing overs, finishing unbeaten on 68 from 35 balls as India's total climbed past 350 and kept going, the two combining to add the fastest runs of the innings in the last five overs. Wayne Parnell took 2 for 95 from his ten overs, the most expensive bowling figures on either side that day, and none of South Africa's six bowlers went for fewer than six runs an over, a rate that in 2010 was considered exceptionally costly across a full ten-over spell.

Two hundred not out

Tendulkar reached 200 from his 147th ball, in the final over of the innings, and remained not out as India closed on 401 for 3, only the third such innings to pass 400 in a one-day international between two major Test nations, after Australia's 434 and South Africa's 438 in their extraordinary match at Johannesburg four years earlier. He had batted every one of the fifty overs.

De Villiers replies in vain

South Africa's reply never seriously threatened the target, which was always going to be the case chasing 402. Herschelle Gibbs was bowled for 7 and Hashim Amla made 34 before India's bowlers worked through the top order, Praveen Kumar, Sreesanth twice, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan sharing the first six wickets and reducing South Africa to 103 for 6 early in the fifteenth over. Jacques Kallis, the South African captain, was bowled for 11, and Alviro Petersen, Jean-Paul Duminy and Mark Boucher all fell for single-figure or modest scores as the required rate climbed further out of reach. AB de Villiers played a lone hand once the top order had gone, making an unbeaten 114 from 101 balls in a losing cause, finding boundaries with the same fluency that would later make him one of the most destructive batters in white-ball cricket, but with wickets falling steadily at the other end there was no partner to build an innings with him. South Africa were bowled out for 248 in the 43rd over, India winning by 153 runs, a margin that reflected how far beyond reach Tendulkar's innings had put the target from the very first over of the chase. Sreesanth took 3 for 49 from his seven overs, and Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan each took two wickets in the reply, a shared effort with the ball across India's attack to match the record-breaking individual one with the bat.

A number that had never been reached

Tendulkar's 200 stood as the first double century in a one-day international and was widely covered as one of the landmark individual innings in the format's history, a moment many in cricket had thought would never arrive given how the previous best attempts had all fallen just short in the 190s. Other batters have since reached 200 in an ODI, but Tendulkar's innings at Gwalior remains the first, played in front of a crowd that sensed something historic was building as the total climbed through the 300s with him still at the crease. The full scorecard from Gwalior, including the 194-run stand with Dinesh Karthik and the full South African chase, is on this page, and the two sides can be explored on the India and South Africa team pages. In The Chase you can bat through fifty overs yourself and see how close you can get to the number that nobody in the long history of one-day cricket had reached before that night in Gwalior.

Sources

• CricArcade World Cup archive: the full scorecard, fall of wickets and partnerships on this page
• ESPNcricinfo: India v South Africa, second ODI 2010, scorecard and report
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2011: Tendulkar's double century