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That brings us to the end of our coverage of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup for the day. Both these sides will travel towards the southern direction from Delhi - Sri Lanka further than South Africa - they'll be taking on Pakistan at Hyderabad on Tuesday. South Africa have ample time before their next game against Australia at Lucknow, they'll be able to get a better hang of the conditions there as well. We'll be back with a blockbuster World Cup clash tomorrow - hosts India take on Australia at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium in the afternoon. Do join us right here on Sportskeeda for the same, and of course, a lot more! This is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of Arya. Good night, see you tomorrow!
It certainly was a historic day in Men's World Cup cricket, with potential history on the cards. Sri Lanka's batters - some of them - tried their best to go after the target, but as Dasun Shanaka mentioned at the presentation, the equation was a touch too much for them. Despite breaking several records on the day (listed below - click on the link to have a look), South Africa will be aggrieved by the laxness on the field, and the performances of some of their premier pacers early on.
The wicket at the Arun Jaitely stadium was an absolute belter - it is on most days - and batters from either side feasted on it. This South African batting line-up might just have reached its peak - it remains to be seen whether it has come a bit too early, or if they succeed in maintaining the same approach and scoring rate across venues and conditions in India. Despite the margin of defeat, Sri Lanka will take a lot of positives going further into the tournament, after all, their side is a touch inexperienced, but they sure do know how to put up a fight!
Temba Bavuma, South Africa captain: We wanted to win the game and that's exactly what we did. There's not much we can find fault in the batting when you score 400, I think, individually, some guys came back nicely with the ball. Batting seemed a bit better under lights, after the new ball faded away, the ball seemed to come onto the bat better. You could see how the batters used the pace and found the boundaries. We had a certain perception about the conditions. Mendis really put us under pressure. Kesh was really good, having taken the pace off. There is learnings we can take, next game's in Lucknow, different conditions, but think the same challenge will be there - adapting to the conditions. Quinton will be fine, he didn't field today, but I feel he'll be fine.
Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka captain: I expected a high scoring game today. Rassie, Quinny and Aiden got a blistering hundred. The ideal execution wasn't there, we were missing our lengths regularly. It's very tough on these wickets when you do that, we need to work on that. From a team like South Africa, we expected 350 odd anyway, we could have managed if we kept them to 370. We had the momentum, especially with Kusal Mendis, and the way Charith Asalanka played. It was a little too much to chase with the quality of their bowling attack. We missed Chameera, Hasaranga and Theekshana, it's always tough without them, at the same time, these kind have done well in the recent past. That's part of the game, we have to move on. It's a world cup, so sometimes we miss those guns. Really happy with the positive intent in the batting, and we bowled well in the first 10 overs, need to work on the lines and lengths a bit more and get the execution right.
Aiden Markram (Player of the Match): It feels great. Feels fantastic. The platform was laid perfectly by Quinny and Rassie. It gave us the platform to go bang bang. Some days it comes of. Some days it doesn’t. I am very clear about what the team is expecting from me. Have to be nice and smart. As I said sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn't. Ultimately its about sticking to your options, maybe not trying something which is not in your repertoire. Credit goes to the top two for setting it up for us. The wicket played really well. The ball was travelling. It was an entertaining game of cricket. It was important for us to start well and very happy that we were on the right side of the result.
Match summary:
South Africa win by 102 runs
Rassie van der Dussen 108(110) | Gerald Coetzee 3/68 (9) Charith Asalanka 79(65) | Dilshan Madushanka 2/86 (10)
Make no mistake, Sri Lanka were in it for a while. Having conceded 428 with the ball, the Island nation put up a more than spirited fight, led by a spell-binding effort from Kusal Mendis. The wicket-keeper was looking set to break numerous records as he tore into the South Africa pacers - smashing six after six on the first opportunity, but his wicket pulled a plug of sorts for Sri Lanka. Both Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka then looked to build on the start from Mendis, but the equation was a bit too much for them to scale down.
South Africa will have plenty of areas to address, their fielding - catching in particular, wasn't up to the usual standard. In spite of that, though, there were pieces of brilliance every now and then, none better than the catch substitute fielder Reeza Hendricks took to dismiss the well-set Asalanka. Their pacers stuck to hitting the length areas at various stages of the chase even after being dispatched to the ropes. The Proteas certainly were a tad gob-smacked by the assault from Mendis early on - something that they need to look into - might be a decisive factor in high-pressure games.
Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis - a pair that strikes a slight resemblance to a duo of the yesteryears - Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana, replicated a partnership similar to one from Sharjah 1996. The only difference? It was Mendis who played the role of Jayasuriya, and Perera played Kaluwitharana. Kusal Perera contributed a total of 7 runs in a 2nd wicket partnership of 66.
It was hitting of the highest order from Kusal Mendis. There were no agricultural slogs in his innings of 76 off 42 - all his 8 sixes came along off deliveries which were marginally strayed in line or length. He adapted to the bounce of the wicket like no one else, and it took a really good nut from Rabada to account for him. With Samarawickrama back in the hut soon after, South Africa were eager to run through the rest of the lower-order as well.
Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka kept them at bay for a while. The duo tried to consolidate over the course of the middle overs, capitalizing upon anything loose in nature. Both batters got to their half-centuries eventually, but weren't able to keep the partnership going for too long - Asalanka was superbly pouched by Hendricks at deep extra cover, and despite his best efforts in batting with the tail, there was to be no superhuman-like heroics from Shanaka either.
South Africa open their 2023 Men's World Cup campaign with a resounding win, one that'll give them a lot of momentum going forward. Time for the presentations...
That's that! South Africa won't be too pleased with the fact that the run-chase rolled on till the 45th over, but a victory margin of 102 runs will boost that Net Run Rate immensely!
44.5 Kagiso Rabada to Matheesha Pathirana, WICKET! That's a comfortable win in the end for Soutth Africa. They win by 102 runs. A bit ambitious from Pathirana, was a slower off-cutter from Radada, that bounces a bit and Pathirana loses his shape while trying to swing through the line. Plays all over that and the middle stump have been rattled. Matheesha Pathirana b Kagiso Rabada 5 (16b, 1x4, 0x6)
44.4 Kagiso Rabada to Matheesha Pathirana, Pathirana makes some space and tries to glide away the back of a length delivery towards the third man region, gets beaten.
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Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
