South Africa took on Sri Lanka in the fourth game of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The South Africa batsmen made the most of the batting-friendly pitch after being given the opportunity to do so.
Rassie van der Dussen and Quinton de Kock dominated the Sri Lankan bowlers despite Captain Temba Bavuma’s early departure. Van der Dussen also contributed with a wonderful hundred off 103 balls, joining De Kock in scoring a brilliant century off 83 balls.
The assault was then maintained by Aiden Markram, who smashed 14 fours and three sixes on his way to a stunning century off just 49 balls. South Africa compiled an astounding total of 428 runs, which was a remarkable reversal for the slow and low-scoring venue, which had not seen 300-plus ODI totals since the 2011 World Cup.
Sri Lanka made a respectable and brave effort to reach the aim, but it was impossible to do so. Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka also contributed with scores of 79 and 68, respectively, while Kusal Mendis wowed everyone with his magnificent quickfire knock of 76 off 42 balls. However, as South Africa won by a margin of 102 runs, these efforts just served to narrow the defeat margin. With this victory, South Africa’s World Cup campaign got off to a good start.
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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