With this win, India opened their account in the points table in their very first match. However, South Africa — who lost all their three matches played in this World Cup — are still looking for their first victory.
Rohit Sharma in action during his 122 not out against South Africa at The Rose Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday. (Photo: Twitter/@cricketworldcup)
India defeated South Africa by six wickets in their opening match of World Cup 2019 on Wednesday. The match was played at The Rose Bowl in Southampton. Rohit Sharma was declared the Man-of-the-Match.
The clash between the two teams began with South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis winning the toss and electing to bat first, after failing to chase two consecutive scores of 300 runs in their first two games. However, they didn’t start as well as they had desired.
Having lost their first wicket for just 11 runs, South Africa were at one stage reeling at 7-158 but then stitched a little come back as Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris put together 66 runs for the eighth wicket.
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South Africa ended with 227 runs in 50 overs – not the performance they would have liked – having elected to bat first.
The spin pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were the ones who truly made the Protean wheels fall off, with the latter picking up 4 wickets.
Chasing a paltry 228, India lost their first wicket at a score of 13. South Africa pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada was on fire and gave India some nervy moments. India were three down for 139 but a century from Rohit Sharma ensured that India faced no more trouble. MS Dhoni too accompanied Sharma for the cause and stitched a 74-run partnership with him for the fourth wicket. Though Dhoni departed in the end, Rohit took India home with ease with 15 balls to spare.
With this win, India opened their account in the points table in their very first match. On the other, South Africa — who lost all their three matches played in this World Cup — are still looking for their first victory.
India will play their next match against Australia on June 9 while South Africa will face West Indies next on June 10.
Brief scorecard: South Africa 227-9 in 50 overs (Chris Morris 42, Faf du Plessis 38, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/51, Jasprit Bumrah 2/35); India (Rohit Sharma 122 not out, MS Dhoni 34, Kagiso Rabada 2/39, Chris Morris 1/36)
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