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]India Seal First ODI with a 17-Run Win as Kohli’s Record Hundred, Kuldeep & Harshit Shine with the Ball
by K D Mishra
India have won the first match in three-match ODI series against South Africa. Team India achieved a huge victory in the first ODI played in Ranchi. India won against South Africa by 17 runs. With this, Team India took a 1-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series.
Kohli’s Record Hundred Leads India to Strong 1-0 ODI Series Start
Batting first, India scored a huge score of 349 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the stipulated 50 overs. Virat Kohli led the way with a century, while Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul shone with half-centuries. Kohli scored 135, Rahul 60, Rohit 57, and Ravindra Jadeja 37 runs. Marco Janssen and Corbin Bash took two wickets each among the South African bowlers. The match against South Africa was all eyes on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Both of them played accordingly. Rohit scored 57 runs, who showed good form against the Aussies, scored a half-century in this match. On the other hand, Virat Kohli scored 135 runs. Usually, Kohli hits more fours than sixes in ODIs. But this time, he was different and rained sixes on the South Africa bowlers. Virat, who built a 100-run partnership with Rohit, played a key role in India's score reaching 349.
In this way, he was named Player of the Match. Moreover, he scored a century in this match and set a rare record in world cricket. Virat has achieved the distinction of being the player who has scored the most centuries in a single format.
Chasing India's target of 350, South Africa fought hard but were bowled out for 332 in 49.2 overs. Mathew (72), Marco Jansen (70) and Bosh (67) played hard but India were unable to prevent the win. In fact, South Africa found themselves in trouble early on. In the second over bowled by Harshit Rana, Rickelton (0) and de Kock (0) were dismissed in quick succession.
Then Markram (7) came to the crease and was caught by keeper Rahul in the fifth over bowled by Arshdeep. At this critical juncture, Mathew, who was already at the crease, shared a crucial partnership of 66 runs for the fourth wicket with De George (39). However, in the 15th over, DeGeorge was caught in front of Kuldeep's wickets. After that, Brevis (37), who came into the crease, played a big shot in the 22nd over and was caught by Ruturaj.
Then, Marco Jansen, who came into the crease, played aggressively. He provided good support to Mathew, who had already settled in the crease. Together, the two of them put on a valuable partnership of 97 runs. However, Kuldeep broke their partnership in the 34th over. Then, Subrayen, who came in, was out for just 17 runs. In the end, Bosh(67) fought hard but to no avail. Among the Indian bowlers, Kuldeep Yadav took 4 wickets, Harshith Rana 3 wickets, Arshdeep 2 wickets, and Prasidh Krishna took 1 wicket.
