 "India vs South Africa, World Cup 2023: Virat Kohli's ton, Ravindra Jadeja's five-fer and other top moments")
Rohit Sharma-led Team India produced yet another brilliant display with the ball, while Virat Kohli continued his superb form with the bat with another century as the hosts remained unbeaten in the 2023 ODI World Cup with a comprehensive 243-run win over South Africa in Kolkata on Sunday. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table With India having opted to bat first, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer played vital knocks to help the Men in Blue post 326/5. In reply, South Africa were bundled out for just 83 in 27.1 overs, as the bowlers led by Ravindra Jadeja made light work of the Proteas’ innings.
It was a match filled with joy and happiness on the field in the City of Joy, and there were several standout moments in the game. Let’s take a look at some of those: Virat Kohli’s 49th century Virat Kohli was the man of the moment on Sunday. Not only because he was celebrating his 35th birthday, but because of the manner in which he celebrated it. Kohli’s centuries, be it in any format, are becoming an ordinary thing of late. But this one was extra-ordinary.
When he took a single off Kagiso Rabada’s ball in the 49th over, Kohli notched up his 49th ODI century, going level with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar, a World Cup-winner in 2011, had finished his international career with 49 centuries in the 50-over format, and once Kohli achieved the milestone, Tendulkar had special words for him. “Well played Virat. It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days. Congratulations!!,” Tendulkar posted on ‘X’. Rohit’s aggressive start While the focus was later on Kohli, India’s innings started off with the usual opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.
Rohit, though, was in a mood to let his bat do the talking from very early on in the innings. He collected his first boundary in the fourth ball of the first over, hitting Ngidi over short cover for a four. That was the start of a barrage of boundaries, as Rohit went onto punish Ngidi twice again, in the third over, before targeting Jansen with the same result in the fourth. Both of Rohit’s sixes came against Ngidi in the fifth over, and both were lofted over square leg fence. He would help India cross the 50-run mark in less than five overs. However, Rohit fell to Kagiso Rabada’s trap in the sixth over as he was caught by Temba Bavuma at mid-off, while trying go over the cover region. Rohit eventually departed for a 24-ball 40. Shreyas Iyer’s vital knock After a series of mixed outings, Shreyas Iyer seems to be rediscovering his rhythm once again. Iyer had scored 82 against Sri Lanka in the last match, but this was an even more testing knock for the 28-year-old.
Against South Africa, Iyer started on a rather sedate note, just dealing with singles and doubles initially before changing gears from the 22nd over. Against Tabraiz Shamsi in that over, Iyer played the scoop past the wicketkeeper for a four. He followed that up with another boundary off Shamsi in the latter’s next over, before hitting the spinner for a six in the 28th over. Iyer then brought up his fifty with a boundary off Marco Jansen in the 31st over. Iyer would go onto hit a couple of more boundaries in the same over, and just when it looked as though Iyer was changing gears into a more attacking approach, he was caught by Aiden Markram at mid-on off Lungi Ngidi’s ball in the 37th over. Mohammed Siraj’s impactful start If there was one crucial wicket India needed at the start of the Proteas’ chase, it was that of Quinton de Kock. De Kock has been in the form of his life, scoring four centuries in the World Cup so far, but there was no such heroics from the opener this time around. De Kock was dismissed for just five runs, and that too, in a cheap manner. It was a length delivery from Mohammed Siraj, and de Kock, on this occasion, missed out on the cover drive, as he was chopped on with the ball hitting the middle stump. Siraj may have had just the one wicket, but he was impactful, setting up the platform for the rest of the destruction by India. Five-star Ravindra Jadeja While it’s the pace trio of Shami, Siraj and Bumrah who have stolen most of the limelight during bowling, Ravindra Jadeja made sure he was not left out of the action.
Jadeja registered figures of 5/33, inflicting damage on the opposition batters. He first cleaned up Bavuma in the ninth over, before turning things around to see off Heinrich Klaasen in the 13th over. Klaasen was initially given not out for LBW, but the Men in Blue decided to review this one. The ball had hit Klaasen on the front pad, and was pitching in line, en route to hitting the leg stump, as the ball-tracking showed. Jadeja would later go onto dismiss David Miller, clean up Keshav Maharaj before a caught and bowled dismissal to send Kagiso Rabada to the pavilion. In the end, among the bowlers, it was Jadeja’s day out, as South Africa were bundled out for their joint second-lowest total in ODIs.
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