New Delhi: India continued their unbeaten run in the ICC World Cup 2023, as they defeats South Africa by a huge margin of 243 runs.
With this win, India has also ensured their top spot finish in the points table.
The South African team came out to chase 327 runs but were never actually in the game.
They kept loosing wickets at regular interval and was finally cleaned out on just 83 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja was India’s star with the ball with his 5 wickets haul, Shami and Kuldeep got 2 wickets each while Siraj also got 1 for him.
Earlier, the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first.
Rohit and Gill started the innings in their usual attacking fashion by adding 61 runs for the first wicket in just 32 balls.
However, India lost both Rohit Sharma (40) and Subhman Gill (23) in quick successions, reducing the Indian innings to 92 for 2.
Virat Kohli then added 134 runs for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer (77), before later getting dismissed by Ngidi.
On the other hand, the birthday boy Virat Kohli, with his record 49th-century innings of 101 not-out in 121 deliveries, took India to a huge total of 326 on the board.
In bowling, Rabada, Ngidi, Jansen, Maharaj and Shamsi each shared one wicket amongst themselves.
Batting (1st innings)
India: 326/5 (50 overs), Virat Kohli- 101* (121), Shreyas Iyer- 77 (87)
Bowling (1st innings)
South Africa: Keshav Maharaj- 1/30 (10 overs), Kagiso Rabada- 1/48 (10 overs)
Batting (2nd innings)
South Africa: 83/10 (27.1 overs) [Target: 327], Marco Jansen- 14 (30), Van Der Dussen- 13 (32)
Bowling (2nd innings)
India: Ravindra Jadeja- 5/33 (9 over), Md. Shami- 2/18 (4 overs)
Key moments:
Kuldeep finishes things off
Kuldeep gets the final wicket as South Africa gets all out on 83.
Jadeja’s fifer
Jadeja completes his five wickets haul as Rabada departs on 6.
Kuldeep strikes
Kuldeep Yadav gets his first as Marco Jansen departs on 14.
Jadeja again
Jadeja gets his fourth as Maharaj departs on 7.
Jadeja with his third
Ravindra Jadeja strikes again as Miller departs 11.
Shami strikes again
Md. Shami gets his second as Van der Duseen departs on 13.
Jadeja strikes again
Jadeja strikes again as Klaseen departs on 1.
Shami strikes
Shami gets his first as Markram departs on 9.
Jadeja stikes
Ravindra Jadeja gets his first wicket as Bavuma departs on 11.
Md. Siraj draws first blood
Md. Siraj opens India’s account as De Kock departs on 5.
49th century for Kohli
Virat Kohli equals Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries in the 49th over.
Surya departs
Tabraiz Shamsi also gets his first, as Surya Kumar Yadav departs on 22.
Jansen strikes
Jansen gets his first wicket of the match as KL Rahul departs on 8.
Iyer departs
Lungi Ngidi gets his first as Shreyas Iyer departs after a well-made 77.
Back-to-back 50 from Iyer
Shreyas Iyer completes his 17th Odi 50 with 4 fours and 1 six.
Fifty for Kohli
Virat Kohli completes his 71st ODI fifty in the 29th over.
Fifty partnership
Kohli and Iyer complete their 50-run partnership in 86 deliveries.
Gill departs
Gill departs on 23 as Maharaj gets his first
Rabada draws first blood
Kagiso Rabada strikes first as Rohit departs on 40.
50 up for India
India completes 50 runs for the first wicket in just 27 balls.
Rohit and Gill start
Rohit Sharma and Subhman Gill starts the innings aggressively taking African bowlers to boundary every over.
India and South Africa are both the teams to beat in the tournament, as all three departments of them are doing exceptionally well.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Subhman Gill is leading India’s batting, meanwhile, for the Proteas, Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram and Henric Klassen is absolutely destroying the opponents with the bat.
In bowling both teams are filled with wicket takers, as Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Shami and Kuldeep Yadav leading the charge, while Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj is doing the same for South Africa.
If we are look at the head-to-head records of both the teams at the World Cups, Proteas are leading at the moment with 3-2 over the men in blue.
India will give their all to even the scores and confirm their top-spot finish.
This will also be the best chance for them to check their team’s compatibility with 6 batsmen and 5 blowers plan after their 6th bowling option, Hardik Pandya, is ruled out of the tournament due to an ankle injury he suffered against Bangladesh.
