India thrash South Africa, remain unbeaten; Kohli ton, Jadeja five-fer flatten Proteas

KOLKATA: The Indian juggernaut continues in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 as they beat South Africa by a massive 243 runs, the biggest defeat for Proteas in ODIs, at the Eden Gardens Stadium, here on Sunday.

India bundled out the Proteas for 83 in 27.1 overs courtesy of Ravindra Jadeja's five-wicket haul after Virat Kohli’s brilliant show with the bat.

It was a masterclass by the Indian bowlers, starting with Mohammad Siraj who drew the first blood by clipping Quinton de Kock’s off-stump, who got out on 5 runs.

Brought into the attack in the Power-play, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja started his hunt by clearing off Proteas’s skipper Temba Bavuma's off stump for 11 runs.

Jadeja continued his hunt as he went on to take four more wickets from there on. He trapped Heinrich Klassen (1) in front of the stumps, bowled out David Miller (11), cleaned up the off-stump of Keshav Maharaj (7) and got rid of Kagiso Rabada (6), catching him off his own bowling.

Jadeja also became only the second Indian spinner to take a five-wicket haul in World Cups. Yuvraj Singh was the first, picking up 5 for 31 against Ireland in 2011.

Mohammed Shami, yet again, shone bright with two wickets getting rid of Aiden Markram (6) and Rassie van der Dussen (13). Kuldeep Yadav also got two wickets, sending back Marco Jansen (14) and Luni Ngidi (0).

With this win, India registered their eighth successive win in the World Cup 2023, remaining unbeaten with one more game with the Netherlands to go. India now have 16 points from eight games and are the only unbeaten team in the World Cup 2023.

This was supposed to be the big battle as the top two teams squared off. But India have just shut it off well before time. South Africa didn't even last 30 overs.

India now have eight wins in eight games, making sure they finish the league stage at the top of the points table. South Africa are still on 12 points, losing their second game out of three when chasing. Their net run rate has taken a hit but it's still a healthy 1.376.

Earlier, Virat Kohli’s 49th ton of his ODI career, an unbeaten 101, helped India post a mammoth total of 326/5 in 50 overs.

After skipper Rohit Sharma had elected to bat first and posted 62 runs for the opening wicket, Kohli notched up his century, equalling Sachin Tendulkar's record and helped his side post a competitive total on a tricky-looking surface.

Rohit also went past West Indies legend Chris Gayle and now equals AB de Villiers' record of most ODI sixes in a calendar year with 58 sixes. The 36-year-old took 23 innings to reach the milestone, taking five more than de Villiers.

Birthday boy Virat Kohli walked into bat at three and helped India finish the powerplay on 91 for 1 which is also the second-most runs South Africa have conceded in the first 10 overs in the tournament. Against Sri Lanka, they had given away 94 for 2.

Keshav Maharaj cleaned up the well-set Gill on 23 with a ripper of delivery in the 11th over. Shreyas Iyer joined Kohli at the crease and started building a partnership.

After scoring 91 in the first powerplay, the hosts managed to score only 33 runs in the next 10 overs. Iyer struggled in rotating strike and the boundaries dried up. The pair of Kohli and Iyer stitched a 50-run stand but took close to 15 overs to bring it up.

Both Kohli and Iyer hit regular boundaries before the latter miscued one and fell after scoring 77 off 87 balls. KL Rahul joined Kohli but struggled to get going and fell on eight while trying to clear the fence.

Suryakumar Yadav played a very good cameo of 22 off 14 balls before departing, courtesy of a brilliant catch by Quinton de Kock.

The bowlers were still wayward as they conceded 22 wides. Only once have South Africa bowled more wides in an ODI - 25 against Zimbabwe in 2000 - while they gave away 21 against Kenya in 2008. IANS

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