Riding on Virat Kohli’s historic 49th century and Ravindra Jadeja’s fifer, India beat South Africa by 243 runs which made sure they will finish at the top of the table in the league stage. India have extended their unbeaten run in this tournament by 8 matches. The Men in Blue now have 16 points, four more than second-placed South Africa and both teams have only one match left to play.
India produced another dominant show in all three departments on Sunday as the Proteas just failed to match the intensity and didn’t put up any fight while chasing the 327-run target at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
It was a tricky surface to bat on and Virat Kohli showed the way to India with his 49th ODI century to match Sachin Tendulkar’s most ODI centuries tally.
Five-time champions Australia edged closer to securing a semi-final berth alongside India and South Africa — both already qualified for the final four.
With the win on Saturday, Australia remained at the third spot on the points table, while the defeat put New Zealand under pressure in the race for semis but still remained intact in the fourth spot.
However, now they are in a tricky position to qualify for the semis and have to beat Bangladesh in the next match at any cost and also keep track of the NRR. Meanwhile, Afghanistan have a chance to spoil their party if they win their next two matches.
Meanwhile, Pakistan have jumped to the fifth spot and are alive in the semi-final race but they still have to rely on other teams’ results to advance in the tournament.
Afghanistan have dropped down to the sixth spot but they have a better chance to make it to the semis than New Zealand and Pakistan as their faith is completely in their own hands at the moment.
Sri Lanka and the Netherlands have placed at the seventh and eighth spots respectively with the same amount of points 4.
Bangladesh and England are the only teams out of the semifinal race with six defeats in seven matches.
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