But it was the behavior of the indisciplined crowd, which took centre stage rather than the outcome of the low-scoring match. The crowd here had the notoriety of causing trouble by throwing water pouches into the ground. But this time, they crossed the limit by using water bottles.

It all started when the India innings ended on an embarrassing note. Hundreds of water bottles came down flying from Gallery No 4 and landed the practice area. Play came to a halt after 11th over of the South Africa innings as water bottles were hurled into the ground from almost all the galleries. Play resumed after 20 munutes but only to be stopped again two overs later. This time Match Referee Chrish Broad intervened and after his discussion with umpires, players returned to the dressing room, leaving the match in a limbo.

However, sanity returned after Gallery No 4 and 2 were vacated and police took control over the situation. The remaining part of the match was completed after a total disruption of 51 minutes. It was strange that the Commissionerate Police, which was often boasting about its tight security measures around a month before the match, was caught napping by the trouble-makers.

It was equally strange that Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) allowed people take water bottles into the stadium knowing fully well that missuse of such things could not be ruled out. OCA even allowed vendors sell water bottles of different sizes inside the stadium. For all these mistakes, the state body now faces the possibility of losing the right to host international matches for a few years.

Interestingly, the Commissionerate Police, which extending all support to OCA, blamed the state body for the unruly act of the crowd. ``We had made it clear to OCA that water bottles will not be allowed inside the stadium. But water bottles were allowed to be sold in the stands only after OCA cited `humanitarian grounds’ as the conditions were humid,’’ said Police Commissioner Dr R P Sharma.

OCA secretary Asirbad Behera described the incident unfortunate and put the blame on `some mischief mongers’ in the crowd. ``Hosting international matches is a pride for the state. If the show is spoiled by some mischief mongers, the image of state will be tarnished. What happened was unfortunate. Next time we will erect protection nets before all the stands to prevent throwing of objects into the ground,’’ he said.

INDIA MAKE HARA-KIRI: Outwitted in the opening match at Dharamsala, India were expected to bounce back and level the series here. But to utter dismay of a 45-strong capacity crowd, what they made was hara-kiri. It all started even before the start of the match as team management made replaced speedster Sreenath Aravind with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Surprisingly, left-arm spinner Axar Patel, whose nightmarish 22-run over cost India dear in the first match, was retained in the playing eleven. So was Ambati Rayudu notwithstanding the fact that he was a total failure at Dharamsala.

After a slow start India suffered a dramatic collapse, losing all 10 wickets in space of 64 runs. Only four batsmen could reach double digits, while four failed to open their account. After Shikhar Dhawan was trapped in front of the wicket by Chrish Morris, there was end to misery for India. Poor running between the wickets, which resulted in Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli getting run out, and suicidal stroke play by most of the batsmen compounded the plight of the team.

The pitch, of course, was not easy to bat on. But bowling performance of South Africa was not so great either. It was the atrocious batting of the home team that made the opposition bowling attack look like unplayble. Speedster Albie Morkel, who replaced Marchant de Lange, emerged as the most successful bowler, bagging three wickets for 12 runs, while fellow pacer Chrish Morris and leggie Imran Tahir picked up a brace each. Morkel was adjudged the man of the match. When South Aftica batted, their victory was never in doubt. The inevitable was only delayed by off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who picked up three wickets conceding 24 runs.

SCOREBOARD
INDIA: Rohit Sharma (run out) 22, Shikhar Dhawan lbw Morris 11, Virat Kohli (run out) 1, Suresh Raina c Amla b Tahir 22, Ambati Rayudu b Rabada 0, MS Dhoni c de Villiers b Morkel 5, Axar Patel c du Plessis b Morkel 9, Harbhajan Singh b Tahir 0, Ravichandran Ashwin b Morris 11, Bhuvneshwar Kumar b Morkel 0, Mohit Sharma (not out) 0; Extras (lb-1, nb-1, w-9) 11
Total (All out; 17.2 overs) 92
Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-30, 3-43, 4-45, 5-67, 6-69, 7-69, 8-85, 9-85, 10-92
Bowling: Kyle Abbott 3-0-21-0, Imran Tahir 4-0-24-2, Kagiso Rabada 4-0-18-1, Chris Morris 2.2-0-16-2, Albie Morkel 4-0-12-3

SOUTH AFRICA: AB de Villiers b Ashwin 19, Hashim Amla c Rohit b Ashwin 2, Francois du Plessis c Mohit b Ashwin 16, JP Duminy (not out) 30, Farhaan Behardien lbw Patel 11, David Miller (not out) 10; Extras (lb-3, w-5) 8
Total (4 wkts; 17.1 overs) 96
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-38, 3-49, 4-76
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-0-13-0, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-24-3, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-20-0, Mohit Sharma 1-0-7-0, Suresh Raina 3.1-0-12-0, Axar Patel 3-0-17-1
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TOP: South Africa bowler Albie Morkel receives the man of the match award in Cuttack on Oct 5, 2015.
RIGHT: South Africa players celebrate their victory in Cuttack on Oct 5, 2015.