Southampton: Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4/51) making his debut in the World Cup shone, with the ball as India restricted South Africa to 227 for nine in 50 overs at the Rose Bowl ground here, Wednesday. The Proteas who elected to bat after winning the toss never got going as Jasprit Bumrah (2/35) another debutant in the World Cup, struck early on dismissing both openers Hashim Amla (6) and Quinton de Kock (10) early on.
Skipper Faf du Plessis (38, 54b, 4×4) tried his best to salvage the situation, but once Chahal came on to the scene, the going became really tough for the Proteas. The leg-spinner picked up the wickets of Du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen (22), David Miller (31) and Andile Phehlukwayo (34) to make it a memorable World Cup debut. His spin partner Kuldip Yadav (1/46) got the wicket of JP Duminy.
Only some late rearguard action by Chris Morris (42, 34b, 1×4, 2×6) and Kagiso Rabada (31, 35b, 2×4) took South Africa past the 200-run mark. The two put on a stand of 66 runs for the eighth wicket to prop their team before Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/44) dismissed Morris and Imran Tahir in the last over of the innings. But that shouldn’t be much of a bother for the much-vaunted Indian bowling line-up.
Agencies
