At the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday, India defeated South Africa to win their eighth straight match at the 2023 World Cup and secure the top spot in the points table. Virat Kohli tied Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 hundreds in ODI cricket on his birthday. India has only ever won eight straight matches in an ODI World Cup once before, and that was in 2003, twenty years ago. Scorecard: IND vs. SA | Points Table
South Africa needed to win by 327 runs, but an Indian bowling attack that is currently the talk of the world destroyed them. The World Cup’s top run scorer, Quinton de Kock, was removed by Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami claimed a few more wickets, and Ravindra Jadeja shone with five wickets for thirty-three. Jasprit Bumrah was unplayable. These bowlers were too good for South Africa to hope against. This lot has proved too strong for any team to overcome.
Even though South Africa and India had already advanced to the semifinals prior to Sunday, there was still a lot of excitement surrounding their matchup at the top of the table. However, after opting to bat first on a challenging pitch, India easily defeated the Proteas in what turned out to be a one-sided match.
India’s triumph over South Africa was a prime illustration of their abilities and tactical genius. As he has done so frequently during the World Cup, Rohit Sharma attacked the new-ball bowlers and raced to a quick forty. The captain of India knew that as the ball grew older and softer, it would become harder to score runs. Consequently, he decided to throw caution to the wind and attack Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen, who was among the tournament’s top wicket-takers. Shubman Gill, Rohit’s opening partner and this year’s top ODI run scorer, was also not afraid to take some chances, but his innings did not last long.
Very quickly, Virat Kohli came into the picture. Pre-match talk was all about Kohli’s 49th century, which would have put him on par with his idol, Sachin Tendulkar. That was an enchanted number. Kohli has reached the milestone several times in the past few weeks. Kohli fell for 95 (against New Zealand) and 88 (against Sri Lanka) after reaching his century against Bangladesh. It was fortunate that Virat Kohli accomplished the feat prior to the semifinals. It was also fortunate that he arrived at Eden Gardens, the same location where, fourteen years prior, he received his first ODI hundred.
On Sunday, Virat Kohli was bound to record his 49th century. That was the intensity and the build-up. There was just too much to ignore in terms of expectations. As Kohli knew. They knew it, too. It felt like even South Africa knew it when you watched the game. Nothing would impede Kohli’s arrival, and nothing did. Not even a brilliant spell of 10-0-30-1 from Keshav Maharaj, who put a stop to India’s scoring rate. Shreyas Iyer was an able ally of Kohli’s, as he amused the Eden Gardens crowd with some brilliant stroke-play and scored his second consecutive half-century.
Iyer made the decision to be the enforcer in the middle overs while Kohli dropped anchor. The pair had put on 134 runs for the third wicket by the time he was dismissed for 77, setting the stage for Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja’s late assault.
In his innings, Virat Kohli did not hit a single six. Even though India hit six sixes in their innings through the efforts of Rohit Sharma (2), Shubman Gill (1), Shreyas Iyer (2), and Ravindra Jadeja (1), they only managed to reach 326 for 5 on a slow, occasionally two-paced pitch. It was only Kohli who could have done what he did. He ran hard for his partner and for himself. He did attempt to hit out in the latter part of the Indian innings, but he was not always successful. For example, there was a chance to get a free hit off Tabraiz Shamsi, but Kohli, in a non-sarcastic manner, missed it. Because of the pitch’s slowness, batters now face an exponentially higher risk.
With impeccable timing, Virat Kohli held one end up while everyone else raised the stakes around him. A brilliant cameo from Ravindra Jadeja lit up the Eden Gardens. She was having a field day with the ball.
South Africa needed to pull off something truly extraordinary in the wake of India’s dominant batting display. They received nothing more than a reality check in what might have been a practise session for the final two weeks of the tournament against India’s formidable bowling lineup.
Shortly after, though, South Africa will play Afghanistan, who are still alive to make it to the semifinals, while India will play Netherlands in the World Cup’s final league match.
