Indian captain Virat Kohli achieves a century milestone for the Indian team during their dominant victory against South Africa in the World Cup.
On his 35th birthday, Virat Kohli scored his second century of the World Cup and helped India defeat South Africa by 243 runs at Eden Gardens. This win maintains India’s perfect record in the group stage.
The match on Sunday between the leading two teams in the tournament did not go as expected, as Ravindra Jadeja took five wickets and South Africa were bowled out for 83 runs in 27.1 overs, trying to chase a challenging total of 327 for victory.
Following India’s score of 326-5, the Proteas’ attempt to chase it down started poorly, with half of their players being dismissed for only 40 runs in the first 14 overs. Jadeja (5-33) and Mohammed Shami (2-18) caused chaos, while Mohammed Siraj (1-11) and Kuldeep Yadav (2-7) also contributed to the team’s significant victory.
Similar to their competitors, South Africa had already locked in their spot in the semi-finals but will not have much reassurance for the elimination rounds. Marco Jansen stood out as their top scorer with 14 runs, after giving up 94 runs in nine overs to India’s hitters.
Before, Kohli scored an undefeated 101 runs which gave his team the advantage and tied him with Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar for the most one-day international centuries at 49. Kohli also surpassed 500 runs in the tournament, playing a key role in a strong third-wicket partnership worth 134 runs with Shreyas Iyer, who made 77 runs with seven boundaries and two sixes.
In the 49th over, Kohli secured his century as India closed at 326-5 on a sluggish Kolkata pitch, with Jadeja’s late surge of 29 not out. India chose to bat first and got off to a strong start, but Rohit Sharma was dismissed for 40 off 24 balls when he attempted to hit Kagiso Rabada over mid-off.
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Following a strong start in the powerplay, the home team lost their first batsman, Shubman Gill, at a score of 91-1 due to an exceptional delivery from Keshav Maharaj in the 11th over. It wasn’t until 26 overs later that the next wicket fell, with Shreyas being dismissed by Lungi Ngidi. Unfortunately, Ngidi also sustained a hamstring injury later on, adding to South Africa’s unfortunate performance for the day.
Source: theguardian.com
