Tsotsobe unplugged on Saturday night

Left-arm seamers four-wkt haul restricts India to 190

Wearing headphones the size of dessert cups intricately woven with rubies and diamonds Lonwabo Tsotsobe,the King of Bling in the South African team,head-banged his way out of the team-bus on Saturday. Fresh off a match-winning performance in Durban during the first ODI,Tsotsobe oozed with arrogance and a swagger,playing the part of a drag queen to the hilt.

Carrying a case logic full of R&B discs in one hand,and two leather balls in the other,he hit the Wanderers nets with a spring in his step and music in his ears. Three-and-a-half-hours later,a packed Bullring danced to the rhythm of his beats,as he made snuffing out the bewildered Indians into a regular habit.

Until not too long ago,many in the know claimed that the 26-year old left-arm seamer kept his place in the cut-throat Proteas side only due to the controversial quota system in South Africa. But never one to take it lying down,Tsotsobe showed drastic improvements with each passing Test in the India series,a difficult proposition considering he was played as the first-change seamer to Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

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But the moment the new ball was thrown in his direction during the on-going one-day series,Tsotsobe has come into his own. While his four-wicket haul on Wednesday in Kingsmead consisted mainly of the tail-enders (and Sachin Tendulkar),Tsotsobe cracked the Indian spine with four hacks of the leather ball on Saturday.

After claiming the first wicket of the day to open Indias unhealed scab in Johannesburg,Tsotsobe returned just before the batting powerplay was implemented,only to put an end to their profuse bleeding with the wickets of Yuvraj Singh,MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina at 190 all out.

Indias downfall started when Murali Vijay heaved at a Tsotsobe bouncer in the eighth over into Morkels clasp at mid-on. New man Virat Kohli and Tendulkar struggled with their calling between the wicket,taking turns in nearly running each other out on a handful of occasions. The pair stuttered India to an extremely watchful 28/1 in 10 overs,before Kohli did what he had threatened to do for a while run himself out for a cautious 22.

Tendulkar followed him back up a few balls later,chopping off-spinner Johan Botha onto his stumps for a tired 44-ball 24. The skipper promoted himself up the order to salvage a dying innings,as he and Yuvraj Singh snailed along to 85/3 by the half-way stage. A total of seven boundaries had been hit by the 25th over,(five of them by the openers) and the rate wasnt going to get any better by the end of the innings,although Yuvraj promised much during his 53.

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Playing a deft sweep off JP Duminy in the 26th over,Yuvraj scored his first boundary off the innings,before an edged four off Steyn brought up a 50-run stand between him and his captain. The talented left-hander looked to get better with every passing shot,bringing up the only Indian half-century,and the team 150,with a whip of his hips. But the following ball,he hit Tsotsobes rank half-volley straight down Steyns throat at mid-off. The stand of 83 runs had come to an end,and very soon,the innings would too.

Eventually,India fell short of the 200-mark by 10 runs a few minutes later. But nobody seemed to care in the electric Bullring,for Tsotsobe led the South Africans off the field for the second time in a row. South Africa have never lost a match after a Tsotsobe four-wicket haul,and itll take a miracle as large as his Bling King diamond ear-stud for India to win this one.