Staff Reporter.
Virat Kohli equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 one-day international centuries with a meticulous 101* to lead India to a total of 326 for five after batting first in their penultimate World Cup group match against South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
Kohli reached the landmark in the 48th over from a pedestrian 119 balls with 10 fours and may, inadvertently, have given South Africa a glimmer of hope after they delivered a mostly incoherent and ill-disciplined bowling performance.
Well played Virat.
It took me 365 days to go from 49 to 50 earlier this year. I hope you go from 49 to 50 and break my record in the next few days.
Congratulations!!#INDvSA pic.twitter.com/PVe4iXfGFk— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 5, 2023
Openers Rohit Sharma (40 from 24 balls) and Shubman Gill (23) shared 10 fours and three sixes from a buffet of loose deliveries before the former drove the excellent Kagiso Rabada to mid off and the latter was bowled by a beauty from Keshav Maharaj which pitched outside leg-stump before spinning to clip the top of off.
Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen shared a horror first five overs during which the hosts raced to 61 without loss with Ngidi shedding 34 runs in three overs and Jansen 27 in two, leaving South Africa with a long haul to fight their way back into the contest.
Jansen was unable to control the lavish early swing and conceded eight wides in his first over while Ngidi’s length and width offered generous scoring opportunities.
Maharaj (10-0-30-1) provided desperately needed control in the middle overs while Kagiso Rabada (10-1-48-1) was immaculate with an opening spell of 5-1-19-1 to provide some common sense and normality to proceedings.
Shreyas Iyer batted beautifully for his 77 from 87 balls (7×4, 2×6) during a stand of 134 with Kohli before top-edging a legside heave against Ngidi to Aiden Markram at midwicket, and there was a consolation wicket for Jansen when KL Rahul (8) miscued a pull to Rassie van der Dussen at deep square leg.
Tabraiz Shamsi (10-0-72-1) escaped with a late, consolation wicket but mostly struggled for control with one 10-ball over including three wides and a no-ball on a pitch offering generous turn for the spinners. A reverse sweep by Suryakumar Yadav (22) popped off his gloves into the gloves of a dicing Quinton de Kock.
Ravindra Jadeja finished the innings in some style with a rasping 29* from 15 balls with three fours and a six while Ngidi (1-63) limped from the field with an ankle sprain with four balls remaining, leaving Jansen (9.4-0-94-1) to finish the final over.
But the first half of the match undoubtedly belonged to ‘King Kohli’, who delighted the 70 000 capacity crowd with the century he has been desperate to score during the tournament to place himself alongside the greatest ODI run-scorer of all time.
The top-of-the-table match may have a bearing on which team finishes top of the standings and which semifinal they play in but otherwise there are just bragging rights and pride at stake, with both guaranteed a play in the knockout matches.
South Africa made one change from the team which beat New Zealand by 190 runs in their last match with left-arm wrist-spinner, Shamsi, replacing fast bowler Gerald Coetzee.
India have fielded an unchanged XI after hammering Sri Lanka by 302 runs in their last game.
INDIA: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wkt), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj
SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock (wkt), Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.