Cheered on by a crowd of about 90,000 at the MCG last night, underdogs India thrashed Cricket World Cup 2015 favourites South Africa by 130 runs with 58 balls to spare.
Although the reigning CWC champions, India’s performances in Australia since November 2014 in Tests and in the Tri Nations series were so disappointing that few had predicted such improved performance in the current CWC.
They have started well beating Pakistan by 76 runs last Sunday and now the strong South Africa by 130 runs. No one doubted their batting prowess but their bowling and fielding had let them down before this World Cup.
Surprisingly they bowled and fielded like champs last night and appear confident of making it to the semi-final.
Shikhar Dhawan gave the start India needed by an incandescent innings of 137 studded with 16 fours and two sixes. He added 127 runs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli (46) and 125 with Ajinkya Rahane (79 runs including seven fours and three sixes) for the third wicket.
India reached 7 for 307 and we thought we had a match on our hand as South Africa have a strong batting line up. At 2 for 108 in 22.5 overs they appeared well in the hunt but then skipper AB de Villiers was run out through a brilliant throw by Mohit Sharma.
This was the beginning of the end as they lost their last eight wickets for measly 69 runs.
The Indian bowlers – both pace and spin – were accurate. Only Faf du Plessis (55 runs) could score freely.
India’s 130-run victory is the biggest win over South Africa in the history of the CWC. Who would have expected it yesterday evening?
Many contributed to India’s big win but none more so than man of the match Dhawan who was earlier passing through a bad patch down under.
At the presentation ceremony he said, “I would say it’s a great feeling. It was important that the partnerships were going big for my team. That was my plan. We lost the early wicket today when AB [de Villiers] effected a great run out.
“I just wanted to stay at the wicket, respected the good balls. I was relaxed, I knew once set I could bring up the run-rate again. After 20th to 25th over I was in, I knew I could get boundaries easily.
“Kohli and Rahane batted beautifully, Virat at the start when we were under pressure. He gave the stability and Jinky [Rahane] started on a good note and his strike rate was very good so I could relax at the other end.”
Before walking off he thanked the crowd for their non-stop support.
Is this a flash in the pan victory for India or are they going full steam ahead? Will South Africa prove their distracters wrong by winning the World Cup for the first time?
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