Sharma pans sloppy Proteas
Rohit Sharma’s 122 not out sealed a comprehensive victory for India over SA in their World Cup match in Southampton on Wednesday.
SA crashed to 89/5 on their way to a sub-par total of 227/9‚ which India passed with six wickets standing and 15 balls to spare.
Chris Morris’s 42 was SA’s best effort with the bat. No-one else reached 40.
The result followed losses to England and Bangladesh in their first two games.
Cold shivers would have rattled through SA’s dressing room in what could’ve been the fateful 13th over‚ when Faf du Plessis took a blow on the bottom hand from Hardik Pandya.
Minutes of medical attention passed before he fought on.
By then‚ Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock had been dismissed.
Du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen steadied the innings with a stand of 54 that endured into the 20th over‚ when leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed both in six balls.
Van der Dussen lurched too early into a reverse sweep and was bowled. Du Plessis suffered the same fate‚ undone by the pace of a top spinner.
David Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo put 46 runs into the partnership pot before Morris and Kagiso Rabada came up with the highest stand of the innings‚ a sturdy 66 that took SA into the last over.
India had bowled to their strengths superbly‚ and to fields at times strewn with three slips and‚ at others‚ harbouring a leg slip.
Jasprit Bumrah sniped away relentlessly‚ beating the bat frequently‚ and Chahal took 4/51.
Imran Tahir took the new ball but‚ unlike against England at the Oval on Thursday‚ there was no early strike.
So‚ after Rabada’s opening burst of six balls‚ Morris came on and bowled his best spell in years‚ moving the ball off the seam at pace and finding the consistency he has lacked.
Morris’ first four overs cost just 10 runs and included a maiden‚ and his next two were also scoreless.
Rabada‚ too‚ rekindled the fire that has gone out for much of the past year. His reward was finding Shikhar
In Rabada’s first over, Dhawan slashed a cut marginally over JP Duminy at point and Sharma blooped another ball behind him – where Du Plessis arrived from second slip just too late to take the catch.
Six balls later Sharma sent another screamer‚ off Morris‚ just out of Duminy’s reach.
It was Phehlukwayo who took the biggest wicket of them all with the help of a wonderful arching leap by De Kock‚ who held a one-handed catch.
But Sharma was entrenched by then‚ and remained so to take India home.
Cold shivers would have rattled through SA’s dressing room