World Cup 2023: Jadeja’s fifer, Kohli’s 101 help India to beat South Africa by 243 runs

Kolkata: Ravindra Jadeja’s fifer and Virat Kohli’s 101 helped India to beat South Africa by a huge margin of 243 runs at Eden Gardens here this evening.

Earlier India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first. The Men in Blue put up an aggressive total of 326 runs in 50 overs with the contribution from Kohli (101*), Shreyas Iyer (77), and Rohit Sharma (40).

Kohli, who notched up his 49th ODI century, equalling the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s record, was declared the Player of the Match for his special innings on the occasion of his 35th birthday.

Chasing the target, South Africa got lost the first wicket with just 6 runs as Quinton de Kock, the highest scorer of the series so far, was bowled out by Mohammed Siraj. He was followed by captain Temba Bavuma who got out when the team score was only 22. Ravindra Jadeja took his wicket.

South Africa’s misery continued as they gradually lost wickets one after the other and were restricted to only 83 in 27.1 overs. With 14 runs, Marco Jansen was the highest top scorer for his team.

Surprisingly, this is the first time in ODIs in 2023 South Africa have failed to hit a single six.