India trounce South Africa by 243 runs at Eden Gardens for eighth win in a row, secure top spot in Cricket World Cup table; Ravindra Jadeja takes five wickets after Virat Kohli scores record-equalling 49th ODI hundred, level with fellow Indian great Sachin Tendulkar
Image: Virat Kohli (left) scored his 49th ODI hundred before Ravindra Jadeja (right) took five wickets as India thrashed South Africa
India underlined their status as Cricket World Cup favourites by steamrolling second-placed South Africa to make it eight wins from eight on a record-equalling day for Virat Kohli.
Rohit Sharma’s table-topping hosts thumped the Proteas by 243 runs at Eden Gardens, dismissing their opponents for just 83 – Ravindra Jadeja snaring 5-33 – after Kohli’s 49th ODI century had underpinned their total of 326-5.
Kohli (101no off 121 balls) now has the joint-most ODI hundreds, level with fellow Indian Sachin Tendulkar, after scoring his second ton of this World Cup on his 35th birthday.
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Kohli brings up his 49th ODI century, matching the record of India legend, Sachin Tendulkar
Three days after skittling Sri Lanka for just 55 en route to a 302-run victory in Mumbai, India’s bowlers were lethal again as South Africa’s innings lasted just 27.1 overs – Marco Jansen top-scoring with 14 – and Rohit’s men guaranteed top spot in the standings.
Score summary
India 326-5 from 50 overs: Virat Kohli (101no), Shreyas Iyer (77), Rohit Sharma (40); Keshav Maharaj (1-30), Kagiso Rabada (1-48)
South Africa 83 all out in 27.1 overs: Ravindra Jadeja (5-33), Kuldeep Yadav (2-7), Mohammed Shami (2-18); Marco Jansen (14)
Two wickets came after successful reviews as Rassie van der Dussen (13) and Heinrich Klaasen (1) were out lbw to Mohammed Shami and Jadeja respectively to leave South Africa 40-5 in the 14th over, with those dismissals following Quinton de Kock (1), Temba Bavuma (11) and Aiden Markram (9).
De Kock chopped Siraj onto his stumps; Bavuma was bowled by a beauty from left-arm-spinner Jadeja; and Shami forced Markram to edge a peach behind to KL Rahul.
When David Miller (11) and Keshav Maharaj (7) were bowled by Jadeja, South Africa were 67-7 and they ultimately ended up shy of three figures as they took an absolute hammering in Kolkata.
South Africa had come into the contest with six wins from seven – their sole blemish a shock loss to Netherlands – but they were blown away by India’s bowling attack, like so many others before them.
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The Proteas restricted India’s batters for large periods once Rohit was dismissed for a 24-ball 40 and Shubman Gill (23 off 24) was bowled by a jaffa from Keshav Maharaj, with the 134-run stand between Kohli and Shreyas Iyer (77 off 87) for the third wicket coming from 158 balls.
When Rahul (8) was caught superbly by Van der Dussen on the run at deep square leg off the expensive Marco Jansen (1-94 from 9.4 overs), India were 249-4 in the 43rd over.
Suryakumar Yadav (22 off 14) and Jadeja (29no off 15) ended the innings with a flourish, although the highlight moment came in the penultimate over when Kohli pushed Kagiso Rabada to cover for his century-sealing single and Eden Gardens erupted.
India conclude their group-stage campaign against Netherlands in Bangalore on next Sunday, with fellow guaranteed semi-finalists South Africa ending against Afghanistan in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Virat Kohli, Player of the Match:
“It was a big game and we were playing the toughest team in the tournament who have played well so far and because it’s my birthday, it was more special. I had a sense today was going to be something more than just another game in the World Cup.
“I did the job the team required me to do and everyone can express themselves around me. Once we were above 315 we knew we were in a comfortable situation.
“To equal my hero’s record in ODI is a huge honour. People like comparisons. I am never going to be as good as him, there’s a reason we all looked up at him. He is perfection with batting. It’s an emotional moment. I know where I come from and to watch him on TV. His appreciation means a lot to me. He’s always going to be my hero regardless.”
South African’s captain, Temba Bavuma:
“We know batting second is a challenge and we know what the narrative is out there about us chasing. We didn’t do that any justice and fuelled it more. We have to look at the things that didn’t go right.
“I think our biggest challenge was taking wickets, we couldn’t really do it. We came back nicely with the ball after the powerplay.
“We expected the wicket to deteriorate but unfortunately we weren’t able to adapt our skills accordingly.”
India’s captain, Rohit Sharma:
“I think we are getting better. Look how we have played in the last three games. We played better in terms of adapting to the situation. Again, today it was not an easy pitch. You needed some like Virat Kohli to bat the situation. We knew we had the runs on the board and needed to put the ball in the right areas and the pitch would do the rest.
“Myself and Shubman Gill have been batting for a long time and we let the instincts take over and we go out and play the kind of cricket we are playing. Ravindra Jadeja has been really good, a big match-winner for us. He goes under the radar but he is a very important player.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves. There is still a long way to go and a couple of big games to come. We have to stay in the moment.”
Monday’s game sees Sri Lanka look to keep their slender semi-final hopes alive by beating already-eliminated Bangladesh.
That match in Delhi is live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 8am, with the first ball at 8.30am.
Catch every game from the Cricket World Cup live on Sky Sports between now and the final on Sunday November 19 – or stream without a contract through NOW.
Sourse: skysports.com
