Southampton: Rohit Sharma went past Sourav Ganguly and also became the first Asian batsman to hit a hundred in this World Cup so far, as India cruised to a six-wicket victory over South Africa to get their campaign off to a glittering start at The Rose Bowl on Wednesday.
After Yuzvendra Chahal snared four wickets to restrict South Africa to 227/9, Rohit carried his bat with an unbeaten 122 off 144 balls, his innings studded with 13 fours and two sixes.
Rohit, the only cricketer to score three double hundreds in ODIs, now has 23 ODI hundreds — only 8 batsmen have scored more ODI centuries than India’s talismanic opening batsman and vice captain.Rohit also went past former India skipper Ganguly’s tally of 22 hundreds in the 50-over format.
Chasing a modest 228 for victory, India were fortunate to not lose one of their openers as the ball balooned up in the air on three occasions early on but to no avail. Rohit was dropped when he was batting on 1 by Faf Du Plessis off Kagiso Rabada (2/39) at second slip.
Rabada and Chris Morris 1/36) bowled tight lengths to keep the Indian openers quiet with Rabada getting rid of Dhawan (8) caught behind by wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock.
Rated as one of the best fast bowlers of his generation, Rabada was at his imperious best in the first spell (5-0-21-1) and could have got more wickets. Even skipper Virat Kohli struggled to get going, as Morris also stepped up to beat the ace batsman quite a few times.
Kohli (18) found the fence after 33 balls, a delectable pull off Andile Phehlukwayo but in the very next ball fell to a well-directed bouncer, de Kock snaffling an excellent catch behind the stumps to silence the large chunk of Indian supporters.In came KL Rahul, at the much debated No 4 slot, and together with Rohit shared a 85-run stand which poured cold water to any hopes of a South Africa comeback.
Du Plessis failed to find a second option besides Rabada who could get him the wickets, but by the time the 24-year old was brought back in the 27th over, Rohit had already brought up his 50 off 70 balls looking as sublime as ever.A
Rabada did get Rahul (26) out with a slower delivery which the batsman scopped to mid off where Du Plessis took an easy catch, but it was too little too late by then as MS Dhoni walked in and scored a cool 34 runs off 46 balls, adding 74 runs with Rohit for the fourth wicket before getting out.
Rabada gave South Africa another sniff of a chance in the 44th over with a fast bouncer that Rohit, batting on 107, mistimed high up in the air but to the bowler’s dismay, David Miller grassed a dolly at cover.A
In the next ball, Rohit used Rabada’s extra bounce to arch back and help the ball over the keeper’s head for a boundary and add insult to injury. It was a six off Rabada that set the tone for Rohit who swivelled back and helped a shortish ball along to the fine leg boundary, picking the length early.A
There was no stopping the star Mumbai batsman from there on, as he was severe to chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi and Imran Tahir who had an off day.A
Rohit racked up his 23rd ODI hundred in 128 balls by working a single off Shamsi, his third against South Africa and second in the World Cup.After Dhoni’s dismissal, all-rounder Hardik Pandya (15 off 7 not out) smashed three fours as India won with 15 balls to spare.Earlier, Chahal (4/51) was the chief tormentor for the tottering Proteas batting line-up, picking four wickets and producing the second best spell by an Indian on World Cup debut.
Mohammed Shami’s 4/35 against Pakistan in the 2015 edition is the best performance by an Indian bowler on World Cup debut. (IANS)
