India wins thanks to Rohit Sharma’s splendid century

By Kersi Meher-Homji

India’s first match of the Cricket World Cup 2019 was not a thriller but had many highlights to keep a cricket lover awake till 3 am EST.

South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and batted. He must have regretted the decision as his team lost five wickets ”“ including his own ”“ for a measly 89 runs. India’s opening bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar made the SAfrican batsmen hop in desperation.

Then the spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal took over and South Africa scored 9 for 227 off 50 overs, Chris Morris top-scoring with 42. Chahal had match-winning figures of 4 for 51.

India also started poorly against SAfrica’s speedster Kagiso Rabada and lost 2 for 54 including the prize wicket of skipper Virat Kohli for 18 ”“ sensationally caught behind by wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock.

Then it was Indian opener Rohit Sharma all the way leading India to a 6 wicket victory with 15 balls to spare. Sharma had contributed an unbeaten 122 off 144 balls out of India’s total of 4 for 230 in 47.3 overs. He hit 13 fours and two sixes.

According to Kohli, it was Sharma’s best One Day International (ODI) innings, by far.

Kohli opined at the post-match media briefing that there was the pressure of playing in the World Cup, and then the pressure of India needing to win their tournament opener, in a format where each of their nine league matches will carry equal significance. “In my opinion this is by far his best ODI innings because of the kind of pressure the first game brings from a World Cup point of view,” Kohli said.

Now for the match every Indo Aussie cricket fan will like to keep awake to watch: India against Australia on Sunday the 9^th June at The Oval, London.

Short URL: https://indiandownunder.com.au/?p=13399