ODI World Cup digest: Masterful India maul South Africa; Air quality a worry in Delhi

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Alastair Cook announces retirement from professional cricket


The Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 is approaching the final on November 19. Each morning we’ll round up the latest action and news from the event and bring you insights from our on-the-ground reporters.

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Main article: Jadeja blasts South Africa for 83 after Kohli scores 49th ODI ton

India 326 for 5 (Kohli 101*, Iyer 77, Maharaj 1-30) won South Africa 83 (Jansen 14, Jadeja 5-33, Kuldeep 2-7) by 243 runs

Virat Kohli gifted himself a record 49th ODI century and India their eighth consecutive victory in this World Cup, on his 35th birthday. When Kohli tied Sachin Tendulkar with a single in India’s penultimate innings, a crowd of 60,000 at Eden Gardens celebrated Kohli and made it a memorable birthday party.

Kohli, who came out to bat in the sixth over after Rohit Sharma won the toss and challenged India to bat, batted until the end of the innings, taking India to 326 for 5 over par. He ended up outscoring South Africa, who could manage just 83 in 27.1 overs. Ravindra Jadeja took career-best figures of 5 for 33 to ruin South Africa’s chase and relegate them to their second-lowest total in ODI cricket.

Match analysis: Kohli steals the show so India can celebrate and shine

The path Virat Kohli chose in Pune was a dangerous one. Possibly he did not even choose that path, but rather KL Rahul led him. It was not the way he tried to score six to get his 48th century even as India were running out of runs to chase. But the one where they started manipulating the strike to get him there.

India had plenty of overs and wickets in hand, so there was no risk of losing. Let’s also leave aside the possible lack of respect for the opposition – telling them that we are beating them with plenty of time to spare – because there are also arguments against that. It was the attention he was drawing to himself. Tell the entire country, who clings to his every word and gesture, that he wants to reach 50th place so badly that he is willing to do something he has never done.

Must watch: What does India’s dominance mean for the rest?

News headlines

  • Delhi’s poor air quality could force the ICC to cancel the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka clash and protocols will be put in place to monitor the situation until game time, with points to be shared if play is not possible.

  • Moeen Ali says England’s senior players may not have seen the writing on the wall ahead of the World Cup after losing six of seven matches to crash out of the tournament.

    • Match preview

    Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, Delhi (2:00 pm IST; 8:30 am GMT; 7:30 pm AEDT)

    This may not be the must-have scenario either side would have imagined towards the end of this tournament, but the ICC’s confirmation that the top seven finishers (and hosts Pakistan) will earn qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy has given what would have been a largely inconsequential game, with a much-needed purpose.

    The problems on both sides are well documented. Since their victory in the first match against Afghanistan, Bangladesh have lost six in a row. Only England has a worse record and Bangladesh has also lost against them. For a team that had won 24 of 39 ODIs since the start of 2021, this has been the most disappointing tournament, especially in conditions that at first glance seemed to have suited them.

    team news

    Bangladesh (probable): 1 Litton Das, 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Shakib Al Hasan (captain), 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Towhid Hridoy, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman , 11 sacred Islam.

    Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Perera/Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kusal Mendis (captain, week) 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Angelo Mathews 7 Dushan Hemantha 8 Maheesh Theekshana, 9 Kasun Rajitha, 10 Dushmantha Chameera 11 Dilshan madushanka

    Scenarios: What do New Zealand and Pakistan need to do to qualify for the semi-finals?

    England have been eliminated, South Africa have qualified for the semi-finals, while the fight for the last two places in the semi-finals is mainly between Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Here’s what the qualifying scenarios look like for those teams.