Sheep in wolves' clothing

If this is all the wolves can do, send in the sheep. They couldn't perform much worse when it mattered than SA did in the Champions Trophy opener against India in Cardiff yesterday.

On Wednesday AB de Villiers threatened to unleash a pack of wolves on the Indians. Instead, SA were hunted down and beaten by 26 runs by opponents who took aim early and never stopped firing.

Even more disappointing was the loss of Morné Morkel to a thigh injury, an additional calamity to Dale Steyn's absence from yesterday's match with a side strain.

Victory over Pakistan at Edgbaston on Monday could be the minimum requirement for SA to stay in the running for the semi-finals. For that, they will need both Steyn and Morkel fit and fiery.

India's total of 331/7 was the product of ruthless batting, notably by Shikhar Dhawan - who hammered 114 off 94 balls.

SA, held to ransom by India's disciplined bowling and tigerish fielding, struggled to a reply of 305.

Much of the damage was done in Dhawan's opening partnership of 127 with Rohit Sharma, who scored 65, and his stand of 83 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli.

The tone was set in the space of three deliveries Dhawan faced consecutively. He cut and smeared Rory Kleinveldt through backward point and midwicket for fours to reach his century off 80 balls, then survived a simple stumping chance off JP Duminy when De Villiers fumbled the take.

The only other instance in the past four years of both openers reaching 50 in a one-day international against SA was in the 2011 World Cup. Then, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar put 142 on the board in less than 18 overs in Nagpur. But SA found a way to pull things back and win with two balls left in the match.

Yesterday, even though SA again applied the brakes - no Indians besides Dhawan and Sharma scored half-centuries - there was no coming back.

Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 47 off 29 balls was an important factor in the different outcome. Another was the poor communication shown by SA's batsmen in the middle, with Robin Peterson and David Miller both run out in farcical fashion, the latter before he had faced a ball.

Peterson scored 68 as an inspired choice to come in at the fall of the first wicket, which happened when another surprising decision backfired: Colin Ingram and not Alviro Petersen opened the innings with Hashim Amla.

Ingram edged the fifth ball he faced to second slip, and, after Amla had been caught behind, Peterson shared a stand of 124 with De Villiers.

When De Villiers's cross-batted swipe saw him go for 70 in the 32nd over, his team's last hopes were gone, too. McLaren's 71 not out was impressive, but hardly relevant.