On paper South Africa were a strong side at the start of the World Cup match against India. But on the field, MS Dhoni’s men emerged stronger than the South Africans in Melbourne. After beating Pakistan in their first World Cup game in Adelaide, India registered another emphatic victory over South Africa by 130 runs. It was not just a back-to-back win that has taken this team to a different level, but it was truly a defending champion team playing against a renowned team.
Batting first, India made full use of their strength when opener Shikhar Dhawan played the innings of his life. He was simply outstanding with his approach, temperament and shot selections. It was a big day for India and Dhawan responded with a big knock of 137. South Africa are supposed to be one of the favourites of this tournament, however, India under skipper MS Dhoni has proved everyone wrong. By winning the all-important game against South Africa, India are right now top of the table in Pool B.
It is not only two consecutive wins that have separated Indian men from boys, it’s also India’s 300 run score-line, which exerted a lot of pressure on the opposition. In the initial overs, the India batsmen gave ample respect to the South African pace spearheads.
But as the match progressed, Dhawan along with Virat Kohli started controlling things around them. They set the pace for India. Soon, Ajinkya Rahane joined the force and added more misery to the South African attack. Just when the pair was looking really dangerous, they got out and South Africa crawled back into the match with some steady bowling towards the fag end of the Indian innings. But India could still make 307, which was enough to put the opposition under tremendous pressure.
The burden of expectation was evident when South Africa started their chase and lost their opener Quinton de Kock in the fourth over. Strike bowler Mohammed Shami yet again showed his form with the new ball and exploited the conditions smartly. Thereafter, Mohit Sharma took over and took two wickets and played a key role in running out South Africa’s captain AB de Villiers.
These were the same bunch of bowlers who were carrying the reputation of “not being good enough” to play at the highest level. But today, they were the proud performers for India. Towards the end of the South African innings even the spinners– R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja — joined the party and ran through the South African lower-middle order and tail-enders with ease.
Coming to the fielding bit, as team director Ravi Shastri had said after the match, that India were simply brilliant. Shastri was even confused whether it was Australia or South Africa who were dressed in blue jersey. The fielders were alert, took those catches and executed some fabulous run outs that changed the complexion of the game.
The run out of de Villiers was one such case when India truly proved that they are here in this World Cup for a purpose. Surprisingly, the South Africans were completely the opposite. This is again for the second time in the tournament when the India fielding was at its best.
After all, chasing a 300 plus run-mark has never happened at the MCG and Sunday was no different. India had never won a World Cup game against South Africa in the past, but this match goes on to prove that there is always a first time and today was India’s day!
