India stun South Africa with huge 243-run victory

India have sealed a huge 243-run victory over South Africa by completely rattling them with the ball in the 37th game of the World Cup in Kolkata.

The men in blue bundled the Proteas out for just 83 runs within 28 overs while defending the decent total of 326 runs at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Targeting 327, South Africa kept losing wickets from the very beginning, starting from six runs. No Protea batters could able to stand before the Indian bowling line up on the slow pitch of the Eden Gardens.

Marco Jansen’s highest 14 runs from the South African batters showed the scenario of their collapse.

Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the Indian bowlers picking up a fifer while each of Mohammad Shami and Kuldeep Yadav got two, with Mohammad Siraj taking one.

Earlier, India post a good score of 326 runs in the slow wicket with a calm-perseverance hundred by Virat Kholi.

He completed his 49th ODI century from 119 balls while the hosts struggled at the end to set the decent 327-run target losing five wickets at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

The veteran Indian batter, on his 35th birthday, shared the record of the number of ODI centuries with legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar.

Opting to bat, the men in blue took the Protea bowlers with strong hands and made a flying start in T20’s mind. Rohit Sharma, 40 from 24, and Shubman Gill, 23 from 24, picked up 62 runs in the opening stand from just 5.5 overs.

After 10.3 overs, India reached 93 losing two wickets. Then Virat Kohli, 101 from 121, and Shreyas Iyer, 77 from 87, started building their 134-run stand to provide the team with a solid foundation.

Iyer then departed but Kohli held the other side firmly when the wicket started turning into difficult for the batters. He made several other partnerships after that. Ravindra Jadeja played a 15-ball 29 cameo to put India on a decent total.

All of Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi got one wicket for South Africa.

Playing XI

South Africa: Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.