8TTA Boys! India thrash South Africa by 243 runs for 8th win; Virat hits 49th ODI ton
India’s bowling attack, by far the best on display in the tournament, came so hard and so relentlessly at South Africa after the batsman had done their job that the result was a one-sided thrashing by 243 runs.
At the very start of the game, it became clear that this Eden Gardens pitch was on the slow side. It was not as though the ball was stopping and coming, but clearly, this was a surface where you had to allow the ball to come to you before choosing your stroke, rather than going at the ball with hard hands.
Rohit Sharma has taken on the responsibility of being the aggressor and putting the pressure on the bowlers early on and he continued in that vein, racing off to 40 off 24 before holing out to mid-off.
From there on the platform was set for Virat Kohli to take the game deep while the others batted around him.
There was an air of inevitably about Kohli’s 49th One-Day International century, but it wasn’t always clear how much India would be able to put on the board. Shreyas Iyer took his time early on, but once he had a sense of how the pitch was playing he unfurled some gorgeous shots, not least the lofted long ball over the off side.
Shreyas (77) and Kohli added 134 for the third wicket and Kohli kept his end up till the 50 overs were bowled, reaching an unbeaten 101.
India had 326 on the board, and, given the conditions, this felt like a bridge too far at the halfway stage.
Just how big of an ask it was became obvious when South Africa’s batsmen came out under lights. They were simply unable to get Jasprit Bumrah away and Mohammed Siraj reaped the reward.
