Looks like there is no stopping this Indian Team’s victory train as they win their eight consecutive match in the ongoing ICC World Cup tournament.
This was one of the highly anticipated matches in the tournament as South Africa and India were the only two teams that had shown great dominance so far. While India had remained unbeaten, South Africa had lost to just the Netherlands.
Today, India won the toss and elected to bat first.
Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill gave India the greatest start they could have asked for. They commenced the innings by hitting some big shots and in a blink of an eye, India were staring at a 100. As India played big, Rohit Sharma departed after scoring a very significant 40 runs. However, Gill and Virat Kohli continued to hit big shots up until the point Keshav Maharaj bowled Gill.
Next up, Kohli shouldered the team’s responsibility along with Shreyas Iyer, who also played a fantastic role in pushing India forward. While India’s game slowed down in the 11th to 20th overs as compared to the first 10 overs, Kohli and Iyer picked up the pace and posted massive scores on the board. Iyer was later dismissed by Lungi Ngidi. Following him, KL Rahul could not stay on the crease for too long and was shown the way after scoring just 8 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav also played a short but impactful innings and played a crucial role in picking India’s pace post Iyer and Rahul’s wicket. Yadav went back to pavilion after scoring quick 22 runs.
Virat Kohli’s 49th ODI century
All this while, birthday boy Virat Kohli stood at the other end, watching the wickets fall and continuing his way to his 49th ODI century. Post Yadav, Kohli was joined by Ravindra Jadeja. With every ball, Kohli inched closer and closer to his century and he ultimately equalled Sachin Tendulkr’s world record. Kohli achieved the feat in just 277 matches.
Jadeja and Kohli remained unbeaten as India set a target of 327 runs for the feared South Africa.
Today, South African bowlers struggled to pick up quick wickets in the beginning of the innings. Barring Aiden Markram, all the other five bowlers picked up a wicket each. However, Marco Jansen proved to be expensive as he gave away 94 runs.
South African innings
Today, it felt like the South African innings ended as soon as it started. None of the team’s batsmen could stand for long in front of the deadly Indian bowlers. Mohammed Israj picked up Quinton de Kock’s wicket in the second over, starting the downfall of the team.
Ravindra Jadeja was India’s star in the second innings as he took five wickets. Mohammed Shami also picked up two crucial wickets, sending waves of excitement across the stadium. Not many could believe it was South African players batting.
Marco Jansen scored the most for South Africa. He was sent back to pavilion by Kuldeep Yadav at 14. Yadav picked the last wicket as well, wrapping up the innings at 83.
Post the match, Virat Kohli was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ award.