Chokers SA caught in Chahal's spinning web

Southampton (Agencies): India began their Cricket World Cup campaign with a bang to outclass South Africa by six wickets in their opening encounter at Southampton on Wednesday.

The star performers for the 'Men in Blue' were Yuzvendra Chahal with the ball and later Rohit Sharma hit a polished unbeaten 122 runs to guide his team to victory.

South African captain du Plesis himself has the blame for the defeat as he dropped Rohit on 1.

India's anchorman MS Dhoni gave him good company, hitting 34 runs. They put on 74-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

This was South Africa's third consecutive defeat in World Cup.

Earlier, India restricted chokers South Africa to 227/9.

Yuzvendra Chahal was the chief tormentor for the tottering Proteas batting line-up, picking four wickets while Jasprit Bumrah accounted for the wickets of openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock.

South Africa, who are playing their third game of the tournament, won the toss and chose to bat first. They lost their openers to Bumrah in the first six overs before Rassie van der Dussen and captain Faf du Plessis took them past the 50-run mark.

Chahal then took over from Jasprit Bumrah, breaking the third-wicket partnership by spinning the ball around Van der Dussen and hitting the stumps even as the batsman looked to play the reverse sweep. Chahal followed this up with the wicket of Du Plessis. J.P. Duminy was then caught plumb in front by Kuldeep Yadav after which David Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo looked to consolidate the innings with a rather pragmatic 46-run stand for the sixth wicket that came off 75 balls.

It was Chahal who provided the breakthrough again by dismissing Miller. Phehlukwayo became Chahal's fourth wicket in the 40th over. Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada then countered with a 66-run stand off 59 balls for the eighth wicket that took South Africa past the 200-run mark. Bhuvneshwar Kumar then took the wickets of Morris and Imran Tahir to restrict South Africa to 227.

The 28-year old leg-spinner had said that while people on the outside may think that all spinners want rank turners, he likes wickets which are flat and have a bit of bounce on offer -- just like the ones being prepared in this World Cup.

In fact, he made it clear that he has more faith in his own abilities than looking at tracks for assistance.

"There was a bit of turn for the spinners even during the England-Pakistan series before the World Cup. But a lot will depend on the overhead conditions. Personally, I don't like rank turners. I love bowling on flat wickets with a bit of bounce. That personally suits my game. Also, as a wrist spinner you do induce turn irrespective of how the wicket is and I have never believed in looking at tracks for assistance.

"Bowling on rank turners is also an art, but if you ask me, I would love flat wickets with a bit of bounce and that gets me going. You can't bowl fast on flat wickets and you need to give it loop so that the ball takes turn. On turning wickets, the pace has to be increased since you already are getting turn," he said.

Bumrah reveals secret

Premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah said the Indian quicks were looking to bowl "Test match lengths" on The Rose Bowl wicket against South Africa.

"We wanted to bowl hard lengths with the new ball, Test match lengths and early wickets are always helpful for the team and we are happy we were able to do it," Bumrah said at the innings break.

"When there is seam movement you don't need to try too much. Just bowl good hard lengths and wait for the batsman to make mistakes," he said of the conditions.

Asked about India's opening match being so late into the tournament when all others teams have begun their campaign, Bumrah said: "We wanted to tick all boxes before our first match. Maybe the wicket has flattened out. Hopefully we will chase it down."

SCORE BOARD:

South Africa

Hashim Amla c Rohit b Bumrah 6

Quinton c Kohli b Bumrah 10

Faf du Plessis b Chahal 38

Rassie Dussen b Chahal 22

David Miller c & b Chahal 31

JP Duminy lbw b Kuldeep Yadav 3

Phehlukwayo st Dhoni b Chahal 34

Morris c Kohli b Bhuvneshwar 42

Kagiso Rabada not out 31

Tahir c K Jadhav b Bhuvneshwar 0

Extras: (B-1, LB-3, W-6) 10

Total: (For 9 wkts; 50 overs) 227

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-24, 3-78, 4-80, 5-89, 6-135, 7-158, 8-224, 9-227.

Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 10-0-44-2, Jasprit Bumrah 10-1-35-2, Hardik Pandya 6-0-31-0, Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-46-1, Yuzvendra Chahal 10-0-51-4, Kedar Jadhav 4-0-16-0.

India

Shikhar Dhawan c de Kock b Rabada 8

Rohit Sharma not out 122

Virat Kohli c de Kock b Phehlukwayo 18

Lokesh Rahul c du Plessis b Rabada 26

MS Dhoni c and b Morris 34

Hardik Pandya not out 15

Extras: 7 b:0 lb:3 nb:0 w:4

Total: 230-4 (47.3)

Fall of wickets: Shikhar Dhawan (13-1, 5.1), *Virat Kohli (54-2, 15.3), Lokesh Rahul (139-3, 31.3), MS Dhoni (213-4, 46.1)

Bowling: Imran Tahir 10-0-58-0 Kagiso Rabada 10-1-39-2 ; Chris Morris 10-3-37-1 Andile Phehlukwayo 8.3-0-40-1 Tabraiz Shamsi 9-0-54-0