The South African cricket team visited India for cricket matches in the 2005âÂÂ06 season. All the matches were one-day games, with five One Day Internationals and a tour match against a team from Hyderabad. Both sides were coming off series wins, India beating Sri Lanka 6âÂÂ1 at home while South Africa had enjoyed a 5âÂÂ0 win over New Zealand. Before the series, the BBC Sport website had a preview which argued that India and South Africa were both "more serious challengers to Australia's crown" as defending World Champions, and that the crowds "could be in for some seriously good cricket"
It was a close series, at any rate â South Africa took the lead twice in the series, but couldn't hold on, and with the third ODI at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium rained off, the series was drawn 2âÂÂ2. The Man of the Series award was also shared, between Graeme Smith of South Africa and Yuvraj Singh of India, who topped the batting averages of their teams with 209 runs. On the bowling side, Shaun Pollock contributed with seven wickets and nine maiden overs, but went for 5.5 an over in the final ODI, when India were set 222 runs to win in 50 overs.
22 November 2005 (D/N)
A huge Bengali crowd showed support for South Africa in this match. They were angry over Greg Chappell's decision to exclude Saurav Ganguly leading to ChappellâÂÂGanguly controversy. Later Greg allegedly showed midfinger to the crowd.