India continued their unbeaten streak in the ongoing ODI World Cup after thrashing South Africa by 243 runs at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on November 5, Sunday. This was Men in Blue's eighth victory on the trot in the World Cup 2023.
Riding on Virat Kohli's historic 49th ODI century, India posted a towering total of 326/5. In reply, South Africa's star-studded batting line-up perished under pressure and were bundled out for a paltry 83, thanks to Ravindra Jadeja's robust five-wicket haul.
Jadeja ran through the South African batting unit and gunned down South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma (11 off 19), Heinrich Klaasen (1 off 11), David Miller (11 off 11), Keshav Maharaj (7 off 11) and Kagiso Rabada (6 off 26). Besides them, Quinton de Kock (5 off 10), Rassie Van Der Dussen (13 off 32), Aiden Markram (9 off 6) and Marco Jansen (14 off 30) too surrendered before India's lethal bowling attack.
Meanwhile, South Africa captain Bavuma rued team's disappointing performance and lashed out on his batting unit. On being asked about the challenging task of chasing down the colossal target, Bavuma said,"We know the challenge, know the narrative around us while chasing. Didn't do it any justice today. When we talk about it as a batting group, gotta be honest. The first ten overs with the ball made it a challenge. We did do quite well after that. Biggest challenge was taking wickets and India built big stands. The conditions are the biggest learning. Wicket played as we suspected it to play - expected it to deteriorate but we didn't adapt well. It will be up to us to adapt our skills accordingly."
After the early dismissals of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, Virat paired up with Shreyas Iyer to stitch an instrumental partnership of 134 runs to steer India to a big total. While Kohil ended up scoring an unbeaten 101 off 121 balls, Iyer notched a much-needed 77 off 87 balls to steady India's boat. India's bowling did the rest to win the match.
While India continue to rule the World Cup 2023's points table with 16 points in eight matches, South Africa are well placed at no.2 with 12 points.
India will next face Netherland on November 12 while South Africa will play their last league match against Afghanistan on November 10.
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