India have started their 2019 World Cup with a convincing victory over South Africa at The Rose Bowl, Southampton. Though the opener Rohit Sharma smashed a blistering century, it was the bowlers who scripted the win for India.
On the other hand, it was the third consecutive loss for South Africa who earlier lost to England and Bangladesh respectively. Now, it has become difficult for them as they now have to win all the six games to stay in the tournament.
Here are the three talking points of the game:
Bumrah-Chahal’s fiery spell:
South Africa elected to bat first after winning the toss. Unfortunately, the openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock failed to give a flying start. Jasprit Bumrah, India’s one of the key bowlers, struck early in the game when Hashim Amla was beaten by the pace of his delivery, got an outside edge and ended up giving a catch. Rohit Sharma took a well-judged catch at the second slip and sent him in for mere 6.
Bumrah once again provided with the second breakthrough to his team in his third over when he dismissed de Kock; who also fell for the extra bit of bounce in Bumrah’s delivery which ended up becoming a catch to Kohli at the third slip. Two back-to-back dismissals left South Africa struggling at 26 for 2 after 6 overs.
After Bumrah, it was Yuzvendra Chahal show who came into the bowl in the 18th over. On the other end, Faf du Plessis and van der Dussen have already steadied the ship with 54 runs. Chahal successfully bowled Dussen for 22 in the first ball of his second over. The final ball of the over was seen du Plessis’ dismissal for 38; who also got bowled by misreading Chahal’s googly.
Chahal’s third victim was the set batsman David Miller who gave an easy return catch to the bowler and fell for 31. Chahal was successful to pick up another set batsman Phehlukwayo who was trying to hit big but ended up being stumped by MS Dhoni for 34. Chahal ended up with the figures of 10-0-51-4 which undoubtedly helped India to restrict the Proteas within a chasable target.
Rohit Sharma’s steady knock:
With Chahal’s 4-wicket haul and Bumrah-Bhuvneshwar’s 2 wickets each and Kuldeep Yadav’s 1 wicket, India managed to restrict South Africa within a below-par, i.e. 227 which is easily chasable nowadays where more than 300 can be chased.
However, India didn’t get a flying start which they are accustomed to as the opener Shikhar Dhawan fell for mere 13. Later, Kohli and Rohit tried to build a partnership and added 41 runs before Kohli got out for 18. Rohit, on the other end, held the chase while the wickets were falling from the other end.
Later, Rohit made an 85-run partnership with KL Rahul where Rohit Sharma took the charge and Rahul supported him pretty well. Rohit reached his fifty in the 23rd over which came off 70 balls.
Indian batting was not at its best today as it was looking shaky. South Africa also had some miss opportunities. David Miller dropped Rohit off Rabada’s bowling and if he had held the catch, India would have into trouble while chasing the low-total.
However, Rohit Sharma changed his gear and played a couple of boundaries. After Rahul’s dismissal, he made a 74-run partnership with Dhoni. Both played very cautiously where Rohit Sharma scored his century in the 41st over. He became the third Indian opener to score a century in World Cup against them in the three editions.
He stayed at the end, anchored the chase, scored an unbeaten 122 off 144 with 13 boundaries and 2 sixes and handed over a victory to India.
Rabada-Morris’ economical spell:
South Africa were not really in a good position in the game from the beginning. Though they chose to bat first, their openers failed to contribute much. However, two big partnerships were there where the captain Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen added 54 runs and later a 66-run partnership came from their pacers Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada.
They were reduced to 158/7 and it was looking that they wouldn’t be able to reach the 200-run mark. But Rabada and Morris did the job for their side with the bat and took the team to 227 on board.
Later, the responsibility fell upon on them to restrict India within the score with the ball as well. Both of them started very well where Rabada picked up Dhawan for just 8. Later, he took KL Rahul as well. Their economical spells didn’t allow India’s batsmen to free their hands and it took nearly 48-over for them to reach the target.
Rabada took 2 wickets in his 10-over spell, conceding 39 runs while Morris gave away only 36 runs in his 10-over spell, taking 1 wicket. If they hadn’t missed a couple of dismissal chances, India would have probably struggled to win the game.
