Indian bowlers brought down the hard-hitting South Africa batting lineup at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on November 5. Ravindra Jadeja was the wrecker-in-chief with his record-breaking five-wicket haul to reduce South Africa to 83, their lowest total by far in World Cup history. But Jadeja would not have got the wicket of an in-form Heinrich Klaasen had it not been for his desperate plea to captain Rohit Sharma. The left-arm spinner was not able to convince Rohit but he opted for the DRS straightaway.
In the 13th over, Klaasen was hit on the pad by Jadeja as he attempted a sweep shot off a fuller delivery. Rohit felt that it was going down the leg but Jadeja said that it would have hit the leg stump. In the end, Rohit gave in and signalled for DRS.
The ball-tracking technology showed that the ball spun instead of going down the leg side and would have hit the leg stump. The umpire’s call was overturned and Klassen had to depart after scoring just one run from 11 balls. Rohit was ecstatic after the big screen displayed that the Proteas batter was out.
Klaasen was Jadeja’s second wicket. In the ninth over, the spinner dismissed South Africa captain Temba Bavuma. David Miller played down the wrong line and got bowled by Jadeja as well. Later, he got the wickets of Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada to complete his fifer. Earlier, he contributed with an unbeaten 15-ball 29 to help India post 326/5 on the board.
In the post-match press conference, Jadeja lauded Virat Kohli for his 49th ODI century on a tough track.
"I think this will be very special for Virat himself. It was a very tough pitch and at times, it seemed that even 260-270 looked par," Jadeja said in the post-match conference.
"He rotated the strike and at stage when runs dried up and their spinners were bowling well, to rotate strike and remain not out while taking score beyond 300, it takes effort," he added.
India continued their winning run in the tournament. This was their eighth win on the trot.
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