Image Credit- ICC
On his 35th birthday, Virat Kohli gave himself a
record-tying 49th ODI century and India their eighth straight World Cup title.
A sell-out audience of 60,000 people at Eden Gardens celebrated with Kohli
after he tied Sachin Tendulkar with a punched single in the penultimate over of
India’s innings. It was an unforgettable birthday celebration.
After Rohit Sharma won the toss and asked India to
bat, Kohli came out to bat in the sixth over. He batted till the conclusion of
the innings, leading India to an above-par 326 for 5. In the end, he scored
more than South Africa, who could only muster 83 in 27.1 overs. With
career-best figures of 5 for 33, Ravindra Jadeja destroyed South Africa’s
chase, reducing their score to a share of second-lowest in ODI cricket.
There was something inevitable about most of Kohli’s
recent centuries. The innings on Sunday was anything but. Even Kohli found it
difficult to get the old ball away due to the difficult conditions in Kolkata.
Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi, two left-arm spinners from South Africa,
also presented Kohli with drift, dip, and turn challenges.
Maharaj’s boundary-less spell (10-0-30-1) was
reminiscent of the 1990s ODIs. Maharaj was unable to misdirect even the most
skilled spinner in India, Shreyas Iyer, with his lines and lengths. Instead,
Iyer gave Kohli the opportunity to bat further into the innings by setting up
Shamsi for four boundaries. Iyer raced to 77 off 87 balls after being on 12 off
35 balls.
The 134-run third-wicket stand between Kohli and Iyer
was made possible by Rohit. With 40 runs in 24 balls during the powerplay, the
captain of India raced out of the blocks. He destroyed both Ngidi, South
Africa’s enforcer in the absence of Gerald Coetzee, and Marco Jansen, the most
prolific bowler in this tournament’s powerplay.
Then, South Africa’s problems affected their batting.
In the second over, Quinton de Kock bowled Temba Bavuma after he got the new
ball to rip away past the outside edge, and Mohammed Siraj was sliced by
Quinton de Kock.
It looked for a while that India may get by without
their best spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, when it came to the ball. However, Jansen’s
tail wagged for a considerable amount of time, which prompted the left-arm
wristspinner to be introduced. Kuldeep took two wickets while keeping them
guessing by spinning the ball both ways. In addition to taking his second
five-wicket haul in ODI cricket, Jadeja made history by being the second Indian
spinner to record a five-for in a World Cup, following Yuvraj Singh.