The cricket fans in India and South Africa had their fingers crossed as both the teams were programmed to play the virtual quarter-final on June 11. Both the teams had to give their best in order to win the game after the first innings, the entire game turned into a one-sided rubber. The way Indian bowlers delivered their spells was phenomenal and their collective efforts bundled South Africa for 191 runs in 44.3 overs. Now to win this crucial rubber, India needs 192 runs to win in 50 overs.
Earlier today, Indian skipper won the toss and elected to field first. After losing last two tosses, it was Virat Kohli’s day right from the beginning. South African openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock came into bat and gave a steady start to the team. Both the batsmen added 76 runs for the first wicket before Hashim Amla was dismissed by Ashwin who was playing his first game of the tournament.
Faf du Plessis replaced Amla and took the charge with Quinton. Both were moving ahead and meanwhile, de Kock scored his 14th ODI fifty. But right after scoring a half-century, he was bowled by Ravindra Jadeja for 53 runs off 73 balls.
Now it was AB de Villiers who came into bat at number 4. But after playing 4 overs, Devilliers’ inning came to an end and he has to go back. After scoring just 16 runs off 12 balls, the South African skipper got out. MS Dhoni once again showed his wicket-keeping heroic and dismissed him through a runout.
David Miller came to the crease to accompany Faf who was playing in his 30s but in the 30th over, both the batsmen fumbled while taking a single which cost another wicket. Miller was given out as he couldn’t reach the crease and was dismissed for 1 off 3 balls.
Soon Du Plessis also lost his wicket in the 34th over to Hardik Pandya and was bowled in the similar way as he was out against Pakistan. He could only score 36 runs off 40 balls. The next men who came to bat couldn’t do anything special to score more and runs to the scoreboard and later, the entire team collapsed within 191 runs while there were 3 run outs in the entire innings.
For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah took 2-2 wickets each while Ashwin, Pandya and Jadeja managed to clinch 1 wickets each.
Brief Scores
South Africa 191 all out in 44.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 53, Faf du Plessis 36; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2 for 23, Jasprit Bumrah 2 for 28) vs India
