India hammers sluggish Proteas
The Proteas were outplayed by a young Indian side in their second game of the 2015 cricket World Cup on Sunday.
Eliot Mahlase
South Africa suffered their worst defeat in a World Cup cricket game when getting hammered by World Champions India by 130 runs at the Melbourne cricket ground in Australia on Sunday.
The Proteas had no answers to the Indian attack as wickets tumbled left, right and centre while run-outs were the order of the day. Shikhar Dhawan played a man-of-the-match innings of 137 to help India post up 307 in 50 overs.
The Proteas struck early when Rohit Sharma was smartly run-out by AB de Villiers after a mix up between him and Dhawan. Virat Kohli and Dhawan stabilised the innings for the Indians, putting up a partnership of 127 before Imran Tahir forced Kohli to play a silly shot which went straight to Faf Du Plessis.
Ajinkya Rahane and Dhawan also combined well to put up another impressive partnership of 125, taking the score to 261 for two when l Dhawan was caught in the deep by Hashim Amla off the bowling of Wayne Parnell. India scored only 46 runs in the last six overs to finish their inning on 307 for seven in 50 overs.
South Africa’s run chase began in the worst possible way as opener Quinton de Kock was sent back to the pavilion for seven, Amla soon followed as the Proteas were left struggling at 40/2 in 10 overs.
Du Plessis and De Villiers managed to rebuild the innings but De Villiers was run out by Sharma after attempting a second run which was never there for the taking.
Wickets then fell at regular intervals until the Proteas were all out for 177, giving India an emphatic 130 run victory and their first-ever win against South Africa in a World Cup match. South Africa’s next match is against the West Indies on Friday.
For more community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
Also like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
