It surely hurts to be at the receiving end of some brutal belting, resulting in a massive 102–run defeat. What makes it worse for the suffering captain is the fact that he asked for it.
On a rare, batting beauty of a pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium that eventually produced 754 runs - laced with a World Cup record for aggregate boundary hits of 74 fours and 31 sixes - Dasun Shanaka’s decision to field appeared justified on a hot afternoon when his opposite number Temba Bavuma fell to the 10th ball of the innings and the next five overs produced just 10 runs.
But what followed was a run-riot leading to a few World Cup records, including the fastest century and the highest total. South Africa’s tally of 428 for five – its third 400-plus total in the World Cup - surpassed the previous high of 417 for six by Australia against Afghanistan at Perth in 2015.
Under the continued, calculated assault, the Lankan bowlers wilted like never before. On a surface which assisted consistent bounce, they offered width and pitched at drivable lengths to concede runs in heaps on both sides of the surface. Even the tally of 21 wides exposed the bowlers’ poor line.
The innings, dotted with 45 boundaries and 14 sixes, saw Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram smash centuries to become the first trio to do so in a World Cup match.
The 204-run second-wicket stand involving de Kock and van der Dussen re-laid the foundation on which Markram capitalized. Markram’s 49-ball century erased Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien’s 50-ball record ton set against England in Bengaluru in 2011.
The cameos from Heinrich Klaasen and the dangerous David Miller followed as 156 runs came off the last 11 overs to almost slam the door on the Lankans.
The anticipated result became a reality in the 45th over but not before Kusal Mendis carried the faint Lankan hopes with an electric 42-ball 76, with eight sixes and four boundaries. Mendis smashed three sixes off Lungi Ngidi and hit two more off Marco Jansen as 35 runs came off two successive overs to take Sri Lanka to 54 for one in six overs.
He went on to cart Kagiso Rabada for two sixes in the ninth over as 29 runs came in two overs.
After Mendis fell chasing Rabada’s wide delivery, Charith Asalanka provided the Lankan innings with a second wind. His 65-ball 79 with 12 hits across the ropes and an 82-run sixth-wicket stand with skipper Shanaka lent some respectability to the total. Later, Shanaka’s 68 ensured Sri Lanka eventually finished on 326.
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