The Indian juggernaut continued in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, as they defeated South Africa by a massive 243 runs at the Eden Gardens Stadium here on Sunday, the largest defeat for the Proteas in ODIs.
After Virat Kohli’s excellent display with the bat, India wiped out the Proteas for 83 in 27.1 overs thanks to Ravindra Jadeja’s five-wicket haul.
The Indian bowlers delivered a masterpiece, beginning with Mohammad Siraj, who drew the first blood by clipping Quinton de Kock’s off-stump for 5 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja, brought into the attack in the Power-play, began his quest by cleaning off Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma’s off stump for 11 runs.
Jadeja maintained his quest, taking four more wickets from then on. Heinrich Klassen (1) was caught in front of the stumps, David Miller (11) was bowled out, Keshav Maharaj (7) was bowled off his own bowling, and Kagiso Rabada (6) was caught off his own bowling.
Jadeja also became only the second Indian spinner in World Cup history to take five wickets. Yuvraj Singh was the first, with a 5-for-31 performance against Ireland in 2011.
Mohammed Shami excelled once more with two wickets, dismissing Aiden Markram (6) and Rassie van der Dussen (13). Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets as well, dismissing Marco Jansen (14) and Luni Ngidi (0).
With this victory, India achieved its eighth consecutive victory in the World Cup 2023, remaining unblemished with one game remaining against the Netherlands. India is the only unbeaten team in the World Cup 2023, with 16 points from eight games.
The top two teams were supposed to meet off in this huge showdown. But India has just cut it off much ahead of schedule. South Africa didn’t even make it through 30 overs.
India has now won eight games in a row, ensuring that they complete the league stage on top of the points table. South Africa is still on 12 points after dropping their second game in a row after trailing. Their net run rate has taken a hit but it’s still a healthy 1.376.
Brief scores:
India 326/5 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 101, Shreyas Iyer 77, Rohit Sharma 40, Ravindra Jadeja 29; Keshav Maharaj 1-30) beat South Africa 83 all out in 27.1 overs (Marco Jansen 14; Ravindra Jadeja 5-33, Kuldeep Yadav 2-7) by 243 runs.
Source:IANS