Southampton: A brilliant century from India's ODI vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who is also popularly known as a hitman for his power hitting, and some sensational bowling by Yuzvendra Chahal guided India to a six-wicket victory in their first World Cup match against South Africa, here, at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday.
Sharma remained unbeaten at 122, his knock was laced with 13 fours and two sixes. leg-spinner Yuzi Chaha starred with the bowl, he picked four wickets giving away just 51 runs in his allotted 10 overs.
This is also Faf du Plessis-led South Africa's third consecutive defeat in the ongoing fifty overs mega tournament. It is the first time in the history of WC, that the rainbow nation lost three consecutive matches in the World Cup.
Batting first, courtesy to some brilliant bowling from Chahal, Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, South Africa were restricted to 227 runs for nine wickets in their allotted fifty overs.
Following the mediocre target of 228 runs, India's start was shaky as they lost Shikhar Dhawan quite early.
Team India celebrates after Yuzvendra Chahal takes one of his four wickets against South Africa. After his brilliant batting following South Africa's batting collapse, Kagiso Rabada was also exceptional with the ball. Rabada draw the first blood for SA by dismissing Shikhar Dhawan (8) in the sixth over with just 13 runs on the board.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli joined Rohit at the crease after Dhawan's departure but was not able to do much damage as Andile Phehlukwayo got the better of him.
Batting at number four KL Rahul put India back on track as they added 85 runs for the third wicket. However, just when the duo started to do some damage control for India, Rabada gave India another jolt by dismissing Rahul in the 32nd over.
Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni walked to bat at number five and score 34 runs off 46 balls. All-rounder Hardik Pandya scored the winning runs for India in the end.
Southampton: A brilliant century from India's ODI vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who is also popularly known as a hitman for his power hitting, and some sensational bowling by Yuzvendra Chahal guided India to a six-wicket victory in their first World Cup match against South Africa, here, at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday.
Sharma remained unbeaten at 122, his knock was laced with 13 fours and two sixes. leg-spinner Yuzi Chaha starred with the bowl, he picked four wickets giving away just 51 runs in his allotted 10 overs.
This is also Faf du Plessis-led South Africa's third consecutive defeat in the ongoing fifty overs mega tournament. It is the first time in the history of WC, that the rainbow nation lost three consecutive matches in the World Cup.
Batting first, courtesy to some brilliant bowling from Chahal, Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, South Africa were restricted to 227 runs for nine wickets in their allotted fifty overs.
Following the mediocre target of 228 runs, India's start was shaky as they lost Shikhar Dhawan quite early.
Team India celebrates after Yuzvendra Chahal takes one of his four wickets against South Africa. After his brilliant batting following South Africa's batting collapse, Kagiso Rabada was also exceptional with the ball. Rabada draw the first blood for SA by dismissing Shikhar Dhawan (8) in the sixth over with just 13 runs on the board.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli joined Rohit at the crease after Dhawan's departure but was not able to do much damage as Andile Phehlukwayo got the better of him.
Batting at number four KL Rahul put India back on track as they added 85 runs for the third wicket. However, just when the duo started to do some damage control for India, Rabada gave India another jolt by dismissing Rahul in the 32nd over.
Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni walked to bat at number five and score 34 runs off 46 balls. All-rounder Hardik Pandya scored the winning runs for India in the end.
Intro:Body:
South Africa , India , Faf du Plessis , Proteas
Southampton: South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and asked India to bat first in their encounter at The Rose Bowl, here. The decision of asking Men in Blue to bat first by Proteas skipper seemed unusual as chasing on this ground is a bit easy.
India which earlier said that Vijay Shankar will be their number four batsman has changed their decision after the warm-up match as KL Rahul scored a brilliant century to cement his place. Looking at the conditions at Southhampton India brought in Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.
On the other hand, chainaman spinner Tabraiz Shamsi replaced injured Lungi Ngidi in the South African squad.
India captain Virat Kohli at the time of toss said, "The crowd support will be massive for us. Lots of people who live here and lots who are traveling here and the excitement is amazing. The expectations are nothing new for us. We are used to crowds wanting us to win every game all year round. For us it's about keeping composure, being professional, remembering why we got the results in the last two years and backing our skills."
Talking about the playing XI Virat said, "Bhuvi, Bumrah, Kuldeep, and Chahal are all playing. When these guys and Hardik are playing along with Jadhav, we are always a balanced bowling attack. The series against RSA in SA, Kuldeep and Chahal were phenomenal in the middle overs, and I'm sure they will be strong against this opposition."
After winning the toss Faf du Plessis said,"We are having a bat. Mostly because of the makeup of the side playing two spinners, that's the most attacking option. Amla is back for this game - we are getting back our most experienced players. Morris is still playing - keeping the two all-rounders including Phehlukwayo and we're bringing in an extra spinner for the seamer. We just need to keep fighting and stay strong. We didn't have the ideal start, but we need to keep going. We need to win 6 games to get to the semis, we have seven games left, so definitely not over yet. A great occasion and I'm looking forward to it."
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Lokesh Rahul, MS Dhoni(w), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis(c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Jean-Paul Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Tabraiz Shamsi
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