India’s bowling attack put behind the loss against Sri Lanka to bounce back in style in the must-win encounter against South Africa at Kennington Oval, London. After captain Virat Kohli decided to field first, the bowlers put up a commendable show to bottle up Proteas batters for just 191 runs.
Shikhar Dhawan then struck 78 off 83 balls and Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten 76 as India sealed their semi-final berth. The loss meant South Africa crashed out of the ICC Champions Trophy.
India’s chase never looked in trouble despite Rohit Sharma’s dismissal for 12. Dhawan and Virat were cautious to begin with, but switched gears gradually. In excellent form since the first match, Dhawan brought up his third consecutive half-century off 61 balls with the help of eighth boundaries and a six. During his innings, he even completed 1000 in ICC’s ODI tournaments.
Virat was solid in defence and once the target neared, he started dealing in boundaries. For the fifth time in ODIs, the two shared a 100-run stand. Dhawan perished just when the target was near, but Yuvraj Singh (23 not out) hit a six to seal the win in an emphatic fashion.
Despite South Africa being ranked No. 1 on the ICC ODI rankings, India started the game as favourites and were clinical in their performance. Accurate bowling, sharp fielding and free-flowing batting gave Proteas little chance to edge ahead.
Like in the previous game, there was no swing on offer when India started the proceedings but discipline of Indian bowlers stood out. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah gave nothing away and even the mighty Hashim Amla struggled to middle the ball. His partner de Kock was crammed for room. At the end of 14 overs, South Africa had crawled to 52. That passage also saw Hardik Pandya miss a return catch and Virat Kohli missing the stumps by a thin margin.
The openers had put on 76 when R Ashwin removed Amla. The off spinner who always targets the best batsmen of the opposition once again troubled Amla as his wild swish only resulted in an outside edge that was neatly taken by MS Dhoni. The experienced wicket-keeper showed why he is the best in the world when he effected the run-out of SA skipper AB de Villiers to bring back memories of the 2015 World Cup game.
Ravindra Jadeja bowled de Kock for 53 and India never looked back. David Miller too was run-out and the lower middle order crumbled. Faf du Plessis, who had provided resistance was dismissed by Hardik Pandya as India took complete control. The last pair too was run-out as India wrapped up the SA innings with 33 balls to spare.
Brief scores: South Africa 191 in 44.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 53, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/23, Jasprit Bumrah 2/28) lost to India (Shikhar Dhawan 78, Virat Kohli 76 not out, Imran Tahir 1/37) by 8 wickets.
Man of the Match: Jasprit Bumrah (8-0-28-2).
