In the fourth match of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, South Africa faced Sri Lanka. After being put into bat, the South African batters took full advantage of the batting-friendly pitch.
Despite an early dismissal of Captain Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen dominated the Sri Lankan bowlers. De Kock scored a brilliant century off 83 balls, while van der Dussen also contributed with a scintillating hundred off 103 balls.
Aiden Markram then continued the onslaught with a breathtaking century off just 49 balls, smashing 14 fours and three sixes. The slow and low-scoring venue, which had not witnessed 300-plus ODI totals since the 2011 World Cup, saw an astonishing turnaround as South Africa amassed a staggering total of 428 runs.
In pursuit of the target, Sri Lanka put up a decent, valiant effort, but the target proved too daunting to chase. Kusal Mendis entertained everyone with his brilliant quickfire knock of 76 off 42 balls, while Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka also contributed with scores of 79 and 68, respectively. However, these efforts were merely to reduce the defeat margin, as South Africa emerged victorious by a margin of 102 runs. This win marked a positive start to South Africa's World Cup campaign.
POTM Aiden Markram said:
Feels fantastic. The platform was laid beautifully by Quinny and Rassie. Gave us the freedom. Some days it comes off, some days it doesn't. Pretty clear with what's expected of me as a batter. Like every other team, we try to play a positive brand of cricket. Initially you want to get a feel for the wicket. Ultimately it's about backing your options. Happy with how it worked out. The wicket played really well. The ball was travelling. Feels good to be on the positive side of things. To start well was in the World Cup was important and something that we talked about.
Winning Skipper Temba Bavuma said:
Happy. Wanted to win the game and that's exactly what we did. It was a clinical performance and give us good confidence going into the next game. It did seamed a bit under lights, but the ball was coming on nicely and you could see how they (the batters) were able to use the pace nicely. It was all about adjusting to the conditions and we thought it is going to be a bit variable in the second half. If we can take these learnings and we need to adapt whatever is in front of us. Next game I don't think (the pitch) is going to be too different. Quinton will be fine, didn't take the field (in the second innings), but I think he will be fine (for the next game).
Losing skipper Dasun Shanaka said:
I expected high scoring game today with the kind of batting line-up South Africa have. We missed our lengths and the execution wasn't there. We should have kept them to somewhere around 370 and that would have been a bit manageable. We got some batters who were striking it really well, but there was too much to do. Missing those three bowlers (Chameera, Hasaranga and Theekshana) is huge, but that's the part of the game, we have to move on and it's an opportunity for others. We need to get our execution right in the next game.
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