After the 52nd ODI century of star batsman Virat Kohli (135 runs), India, thanks to the blows of fast bowler Harshit Rana (three wickets) and wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (four wickets), defeated South Africa by 17 runs in the first One Day International here on Sunday and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The second ODI will be played in Raipur on December 3.
Kohli hit 11 fours and seven sixes during his quick innings of 120 balls, due to which India scored a huge score of 349 runs for eight wickets.
Kohli, who plays the only format of cricket, once again proved his importance and dominance. He laid the foundation of India’s big score on the flat pitch of JSCA Stadium by making a partnership of 136 runs with Rohit Sharma (57 runs in 51 balls) for the second wicket.
Acting captain KL Rahul played a half-century of 60 runs in 56 balls and Ravindra Jadeja contributed 32 runs in 20 balls.
Chasing this target, South Africa had a very bad start, losing three wickets for 11 runs, but Matthew Beitzke (72 runs), Marco Yanson (70 runs) and Corbin Bosch (67 runs) played brilliant half-centuries but could not save the team from defeat, which was all out after scoring 332 runs in 49.2 overs.
Kuldeep took four wickets for 68 runs and Harshit Rana took three wickets for 65 runs. Arshdeep Singh got two wickets. Prasidh Krishna gave victory to India by dismissing the last batsman Bosch.
Kohli no longer plays T20 Internationals and India has to play only six ODI matches in the next eight months, so every match of this format now holds importance for this 36-year-old cricketer. With his innings, he reminded the selectors and the team management that he remains India’s most reliable batsman in this format.
Rohit also had a great platform to prove himself. He took advantage of the life he got on one run and could only score a half-century before being LBW off Marco Janson.
Cricket lovers are desperate for Kohli and Rohit to play big innings and the partnership of 136 runs between them will not only boost the confidence of these two players but will also give assurance to the team management that they are still stars on the big stage and can play more for India.
The pitch was flat but the South African bowlers also did not bowl in the right line and length. Apart from Yanson, Nandre Berger, Corbin Bosch and Otniel Bartman took two wickets each.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (18 runs) was out after touching Burger’s ball with his bat, after which Kohli came to the crease. The spectators of Ranchi showed the same performance as they expected from the pair of Rohit-Kohli (Ro-Ko).
Tony De Georgi gave life to Rohit by dropping a catch on Burger’s ball and this batsman took advantage of this and hit consecutive boundaries against Janson and Bosch.
He hit two boundaries on Yanson in five balls and easily flicked the incoming balls of Bosch and pulled the short balls. Kohli was looking in great form and made his intentions clear by hitting a six over mid-off off Burger. After this he hit a brilliant cover drive.
Both of them took advantage of the mistakes in the line and length of the South African fast bowlers and scored runs quickly, due to which acting captain Aiden Markram had to field offspinner Prenlan Subrayan, but the run rate did not decrease.
Kohli completed his half-century by hitting a six off Bosch while Rohit completed his half-century by taking one run. Due to which India soon crossed the 100 run mark. Yanson finally got Rohit out LBW. Due to this, India’s run pace slowed down for a while.
Ruturaj Gaikwad (08) and Washington Sundar, who was placed at number five, were out in quick succession, but Kohli stood firm. Immediately after he completed his century, a fan broke through the security cordon, knelt down in front of him and touched his feet, after which the security personnel threw him out.
When Rahul (60 runs) was struggling to hit a shot on spinner Subrayan, Kohli scored 21 runs on this bowler with the help of two sixes and a four. There is still some time left for the 2027 World Cup but Kohli reminded everyone that his momentum remains intact and his hunger for runs remains the same as always.
South Africa, full of confidence after a 2-0 win in the Test series, may have had a bad start while chasing the target but the team’s middle order and lower order batted with restraint.
India made a dream start in bowling and took three wickets for 11 runs of South Africa.
Harshit Rana dismissed Ryan Rickleton and wicketkeeper batsman Quinton De Kock in the second over. Both could not even open an account. Then Arshdeep Singh got the acting captain Aiden Markram (07) caught by the wicketkeeper and reduced South Africa’s score to 11 runs for three wickets.
After this, Matthew Britzke (53 runs) and Tony DeGeorge (39 runs) together took control of the innings and added 66 runs for the fourth wicket. Kuldeep Yadav gave the fourth blow to South Africa by LBWing DeGeorge in the 15th over.
Dewald Brevis (37 runs) then along with Britzke took the score to 150 runs but he became the third victim of Harshit Rana.
Marco Yanson hit a four on Harshit’s yorker as soon as he came. Then after hitting two consecutive fours on Kuldeep, he hit a six over midwicket. Yanson hit consecutive sixes on Prasidh Krishna. Then soon he completed his half-century in 26 balls which included five fours and three sixes.
Janson and Britzke made a partnership of 97 runs in 69 balls for the sixth wicket. Kuldeep again gave a double blow to South Africa by dismissing Janson and Britzke in the same over.
After this, the last player to be out, Bosch, scored 67 runs in 51 balls with five fours and four sixes.
