Star batsman Virat Kohli equaled Sachin Tendulkar’s record in front of 58,000 crowd by scoring his 49th ODI ton as The Men in Blue maintained their unbeaten run by thumping South Africa by by 243 runs at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill got India off to a quickfire start. The pair added 62 runs for the opening wicket before the former fell to a brilliant catch by Temba Bavuma at mid-off for a 24 ball-40.
Gill (23) was then castled by a brilliant delivery from from Keshav Maharaj. Kohli along with Shreyas Iyer featured in a 134 run stand for the third wicket before the latter perished to Lungi Ngidi for 77.
KL Rahul (8) then fell to a brilliant catch by Rassie van der Dussen off Marco Jansen.
Ravindra Jadeja provided a late flourish by scoring a 15 ball- 29 to take India to 326/5 in their 50 overs. Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 101.
In response, the visitors suffered a body blow as Quinton de Kock (5) dragged a length ball from Mohammed Siraj back onto his stumps.
Ravindra Jadeja then knocked over Temba Bavuma with an unplayable delivery for 11. Mohammed Shami then got into the act by dismissing Aiden Markram (9), Heinrich Klaasen (1) and Rassie van der Dussen (13) as Proteas lost half their side for 40.
Left arm spinner Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav ran through the middle and lower order, as the Proteas were routed out for 83 in 27.1 overs.