India trounces South Africa by 243 runs; Kohli equals Tendulkar’s record
A five-wicket haul by Ravindra Jadeja, who also gave away just 33 runs in his nine overs, helped India thump South Africa by 243 runs at the Eden Gardens yesterday. The Kolkata crowd was witness to a glorious all-round display from the men in blue.
In the first innings of the day, India put up a mammoth 326, helped by an unbeaten 101 by Virat Kohli, 77 by Shreyas Iyer and a useful 40 by captain Rohit Sharma. With his century, Kohli has now equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries, with the momentous achievement coming on his birthday. Thus, this World Cup is most likely to see another world record soon, and that too one besting none other than the Master Blaster.
Jadeja’s turn, along with the two wickets each by Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav, and another one by Mohammed Siraj, restricted the Proteas to a humiliating 83. At one point, they were five down for 40 in under 14 overs. In the approximately 13 more overs they survived on the pitch, the South Africans could add only 43.
Virat Kohli was adjudged the Player of the Match. This was his second century of the World Cup, having twice missed the three-figure mark by just a few runs. His 101 has also made him the third-highest run-getter in ODI World Cup history, overtaking Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara.
