Riding on Virat Kohli’s historic 49th ODI century, India posted a total of 326 for 5 in 50 overs during their World Cup 2023 match against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
Despite playing on a challenging Kolkata pitch, India managed to score an above par total, which showed their batting dominance. However, there was one South African bowler – Keshav Maharaj – who made a major impact in the first innings.
Maharaj bowled with excellent control, conceded just 30 runs in his 10 overs and picked the prized wicket of Shubman with an incredible delivery that shattered the off-stump of the opener.
With a truly remarkable ball, the 33-year-old spinner Maharaj stole the spotlight and even Virat Kohli, the batter at the non-striker end, was perplexed. Opening the innings, Gill looked solid and was playing aggressively but the left-arm spinner conjured a perfect delivery in the 11th over.
It was a flighted delivery from Maharaj and it cunningly drifted in from the outside leg. Gill came forward to play but the ball enticed him, only to then deceive him by sharply spinning past the outside edge. The opener was caught off guard by the ball’s trajectory, dip, and the turn, which eventually resulted in the delivery clipping the top of off-stump.
The 24-year-old Gill appeared extremely shocked and the special delivery forced the on-field umpires to ask the third umpire to intervene in the decision.
Upon reviewing the replays, it was confirmed that the ball certainly did hit the stump. Gill looked disappointed while taking a long walk back towards the pavilion as he was dismissed for 23 and failed to convert the start into a big score.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first as India, who are the only undefeated side in the tournament, went in with the same XI for this match.
On the other hand, there was only one change in the South Africa setup, with Tabraiz Shamsi coming in for Gerald Coetzee.
Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.