Published: Feb 22, 2015, 08:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 22, 2015, 08:47 PM (IST)
As expected by the millions of supporters, Team India made use of the ‘mauka’ and broke their World Cup jinx against South Africa. Despite not winning a single match in their tour of Australia, Indians showed that they shouldn’t be written off and are still very much the title contenders.
India faced South Africa in what was both sides’ second match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday. The MCG had turned ‘blue’ with Indian supporters flocking there from all over the world. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, India lost the wicket of Rohit Sharma, after AB de Villiers affected a brilliant run-out early in the game.
Shikhar Dhawan slowly built the innings with Virat Kohli as the duo once again added 127 for the second wicket. Dhawan went on to score the seventh One-Day international (ODI) hundred of his career and Kohli fell for a well-made 46.
The innings received boost after Ajinkya Rahane came in to bat. He added 125 runs with Dhawan as the latter went on to score 137. Rahane continued his blitz and fell for 79 from just 60 balls. India ended their innings at 307 for seven.
India have never lost a match when Dhawan has got to three figures and they kept the record intact. The bowlers bowled well and the much-famed South African batting line-up once again choked under pressure. The turning point had to be the dismissal of AB de Villiers for 30, which was affected by a run-out from Mohit Sharma.
The Proteans never really recovered as an inspired all-round performance by India saw them remain at the top of the table with four points.
Brief scores:
India 307 for 7 in 50 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 137, Virat Kohli 46, Ajinkya Rahane 79) bt South Africa 177 in 40.2 overs (Faf du Plessis 55; Ravichandran Ashwin 3-41, Mohammad Shami 2-30, Mohit Sharma 2-31) by 130 runs
