India record their biggest victory over South Africa, stay top of the table at the WC

It was possibly the most anticipated fixture of this World Cup after India v Pakistan, after all, it was a fight between the hosts and table-toppers India and the mighty South Africans who seemed to have vowed to grab the World Cup after all these years of waiting and heartbreak they have been through. And what other ground than the very historic Eden Gardens Stadium to host this game. Notably, South Africans also have great emotional value attached to this stadium because it was the Eden Gardens that hosted South Africa’s first game which marked their return to international cricket after having faced a 20-year ban because the South African government’s apartheid policy. This backdrop of history added to the value and intensity of the game and promised a good day of fantastic cricket.

Having won the toss, India opted to bat first to test out their target-making skills. This decision made sure that this game would be a challenge for both teams as India have won the majority of their games chasing comfortably while South Africa has in this World Cup always chosen to bat first and set a huge 300+ run target. With India batting first and South Africa chasing, this was a great test for the two top teams of the tournament to get out of their comfort zones and play according to the situation.

Opening the batting as usual was the skipper, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill who started the game on the 5^th gear itself and took on South Africa heads on. More significantly, it was Rohit who took the South African fast bowlers to the cleaners and gave India a superfast start who scored 40 off just 24 balls before being dismissed by a lovely catch by Bavuma at mid-off. This was the inning which helped India end the powerplay at 91 runs for one wicket, a milestone which acted a foundation stone for India’s brilliant inning of 326. On the third ball of the 11^th over soon after the powerplay, a magical delivery from Keshav Maharaj which turned from the leg stump to the top edge of the off-stump to dismiss Gill. This delivery was surely one of the best spinning deliveries of the World Cup alongside the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.

However, after this delivery, it was Kohli and Iyer who together played a very patient 134-run partnership to make sure India did not lose quick wickets and stayed in the game. Having previously been criticised for his dismissals and style of playing, Iyer’s inning was that of great patience and discipline against the very dangerous Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi. Once however, Maharaj’s spell of 10 overs was complete, Iyer switched gears, took a few calculated risks and played a few big shots here and there. Alongside Iyer was of course none other than King Kohli who scripted his 49^th ODI century to level up with the ‘God of Cricket’, Sachin Tendulkar. Playing for 40+ overs and scoring an unbeaten 101* on his birthday in front of a packed Eden Gardens which was just waiting for the King’s 49^th ton has to be an innings that will be one for the ages. The way Kohli played was just like a trademark Virat Kohli inning; staying calm and patient, not trying very hard to score a boundary but not letting an opportunity to score go to waste. Such was his innings that he did not hit a single six, to not risk his wicket and stay in the middle controlling India’s inning. There were also two mentionable cameos from Suryakumar Yadav and Jadeja who took India above the 300-run mark, giving South Africa a very challenging total to chase.

After an inning by the Indian batsman which destroyed the South African bowling lineup and took bowlers such as Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Tabraiz Shamsi to the cleaners, the pressure was now on the batsmen to cope up with the Indian bowling which is simply breathing fire at the World Cup. The South Africans were, unfortunately not even in the race as they kept losing valuable wickets because of great bowling from Indians but bad shot selection from the South Africans as well. First, it was De Kock who edged the ball onto the wickets then Bavuma who could not read a beautiful delivery from Jadeja which instantly put pressure on the South Africans. Add to this, another wicket by Jadeja and two quick-fire wickets by the in-form Mohd Shami and South Africa was reduced to 40-5. During this, even Rohit Sharma seemed eager to end the game early after he was heard saying, ‘take the review, he is their last batsman anyway’. After this point it was pretty much a gone game for South Africa which was completely dismantled by Sir Jadeja (as his fans and critics call him), who took his fifer, being only the second Indian spinner to take a fifer in World Cups after Yuvraj Singh. Kuldeep Yadav too joined the wicket-taking party at the Eden Gardens, dismissing Marco Jansen and then Lungi Ngidi at 83/10 to end the humiliation of South Africa and bring in another victory for India.

India will now face The Netherlands on the 12^th of November in Bengaluru, before possibly travelling back to Mumbai for the first semi-final, where India will look forward to scripting another such victory to move closer to their dream of lifting the World Cup at home, once again.       

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