India cruise past South Africa to reach semi finals
India crushed South Africa by by 8 wickets to progress to the semi finals of the Champions Trophy on Sunday, knocking the World Number 1 ranked team out in the process.
Shikhar Dhawan and captain Virat Kholi shared a 128 run partnership as the current holders made light work of their run chase.
Earlier in the day, South Africa had collapsed from 116-1 to be bowled out for just 191 and Kholi’s unbeaten 76 and Dhawan’s 78 ensured that India won with 12 overs spare.
South Africa had given themselves a mountain to climb and were unable to make India work for their win, with Morne Morkel removing Rohit Sharma for just 12 in the 6th over. The second wicket fell to Imran Tahir when he removed Dhawan for 78, but it was far too late for his team as Yuvraj Singh joined Kholi in the middle and his unbeaten 23, which included the match winning 6, saw his team home in style.
Having been put into bat by India, South Africa made a steady start to their innings with Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock sharing an 76 run opening partnership, but once the breakthrough had been made, the remaining 9 wickets fell for just 115 as South Africa fell apart in a crazy spell that saw four run outs.
The first wicket of the day came when Ravi Ashwin removed Amla for 35 and then top scorer de Kock went for 53 after Ravindra Jadeja clean bowled him. After that, chaos ensued as South Africa continually threw wickets away, captain AB de Villiers was run out on 16 and in the next over, David Miller was also run out for just 1 run.
At 142-4 South Africa needed someone to settle down and ensure that they posted a competitive total, but Hardik Pandya removed Faf du Plessis for 36. Jasprit Bumrah picked up the wickets of Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo in successive overs to finish up his spell with 2-28 from 8 overs.
Opening bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar then got himself invovled in the wickets picking up the wickets of Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel late on to end up with an outstanding 2-23 from only 7.3 overs.
A fourth run out of the innings wrapped up the innings as Imran Tahir was left way short as they tried to maintain the strike for JD Duminy who finished unbeaten on 20.
South Africa lost control as India dominated the entire contest and won the must win game with ease. India are now likely to face Bangladesh in the second semi final on Thursday, although this will only be confirmed after the completion of the group stages on Monday.