It was a batting delight at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi as the South Africans went on a rampage with centuries by Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram.
It was the first on many counts. Markram hit the fastest century of the World Cup. South Africa posted the highest team total in the tournament’s history. There were three centurions for the first time in the World Cup.
Sri Lanka was truly decimated on a pitch ideal for limited-overs cricket - it had true bounce.
Markram, after the 102 win, analysed it well. “I think you do a lot of planning and stuff like that before the game. I think it’s natural for most teams to speculate how conditions are going to play, especially South Africans coming over to India,” he said.
“Not always 100 percent sure. And then I think you get out there, and the wicket starts playing really well. And it’s initially a big sigh of relief and then secondly I think a lot of instinct does take over. And sort of see-ball-hit-ball sort of mentality. So marrying the two of them I suppose is quite crucial, but yeah, we’re thankful that we got a belter of a wicket there tonight.”
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On his century, Markram said, “The outfield was really fast. Luckily, tonight, balls hit gaps. I mean, they don’t always hit gaps. And it could be a different story but yeah thankful it worked out that way and again it was a really good pitch so that definitely assisted.”
For Sadeera Samarawickrama, the game was a lesson.
“I think the turning point was that we lost Kusal Mendis and myself in two overs. Actually, it’s difficult for us as a team to be happy with the bowling,” he said.
“We rarely bowled consistently as a team. On a wicket like this, even a minor mistake from us can result in the opposing team scoring six or four runs. If we had bowled with more patience, we might have kept them to a lower score.”
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