ODI World Cup 2023, Match 37, IND vs SA Stats Review: Virat Kohli's record hundred, South Africa's lowest total in World Cups and other stats

Birthday boy Virat Kohli equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 49 ODI centuries to put up a terrific show as team India continued its red-hot form to thrash South Africa by a huge margin of 243 runs in match No. 37 of the ongoing World Cup at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Kohli smashed an unbeaten 101 off 121, while Ravindra Jadeja registered his career-best figures of 5/33 to hand the in-form African side a drubbing.

Speaking about how the encounter panned out, skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. He again gave his side a flying start as he smashed 40 off just 24 with six fours and two maximums. Shubman Gill got dismissed for 23 while wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul made only eight. Shreyas Iyer played a good knock of 77 off 87 which included seven fours and two sixes. Suryakumar Yadav and Jadeja struck 22 and 29* runs, respectively as the Men in Blue posted a big total of 326/5 on the board in their allotted 50 overs.

Marco Jansen had a forgettable outing as he recorded the most expensive spell of 1/94 for the Proteas in the history of World Cups. The Indian bowlers, again, like they have been doing all this campaign, looked in great rhythm as they dismantled the African batting line-up. The Proteas never really looked like in running of the chase as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav also snared two scalps as South Africa got bundled out cheaply for just 83 in 27.1 overs. With this, the host nation has now won all of their eight matches in this WC and is looking just unstoppable. For his hundred on his special day, Kohli grabbed the Player of the Match award.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Match No. 37 between India and South Africa in the World Cup 2023:

49 – Virat Kohli is now joint-top with Sachin Tendulkar for smashing the most tons (49) in one-day internationals.

119 – Kohli has now struck the second-most 50-plus scores (119) in ODI cricket. He surpassed Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 118 such scores. Tendulkar tops the chart with 145 scores.

243 – South Africa suffered their biggest defeat by 243 runs in one-day internationals. Their previous largest loss came against Pakistan by 182 runs in Gqeberha in the year 2002.

1/94 – Marco Jansen delivered the most expensive spell of 1/94 for South Africa in World Cups. It’s Jansen only who is in the second position for his figures of 2/92 against Sri Lanka in the ongoing edition itself.

83 – South Africa recorded their lowest total of 83 in the history of World Cups. Their previous lowest of 149 came against Australia in Gros Islet in the 2007 edition.

5 – Kohli is now joint-top with Tendulkar and David Warner for slamming the most hundred (five) against South Africa in the 50-over format.

1 – For the first time in 2023, the Africans failed to hit a six in ODI matches.

243 – India registered their biggest victory over South Africa by 243 runs. Previously, they defeated them by a margin of 153 runs twice in Dhaka in 2003 and Gwalior in 2010.

5/33 – Ravindra Jadeja registered his best figures of 5/33 in the ODI format. Previously, he took five wickets for 36 runs against West Indies at The Oval in the 2013 Champions Trophy.

7 – Kohi became the seventh player to smash a ton in this format on Birthday. The other six who achieved the feat on their special day are Vinod Kambli against England in 1993, Tendulkar against Australia in 1998, Sanath Jayasuriya against India in 2008, Ross Taylor against Pakistan in 2011, Tom Latham against the Netherlands in 2022 and Mitchell Marsh against Pakistan in the ongoing WC.

2 – Jadeja scripted the second-best figures of 5/33 by an Indian spinner in WCs. Yuvraj Singh picked up 5/31 against Ireland in Bangalore in the 2011 edition.

58 – Rohit Sharma is joint-top with AB de Villiers for slamming 58 maximums in ODIs in a calendar year. The latter did the job back in the year 2015.

22 – Kohli is equal with Ricky Ponting in the second spot for hitting 22 centuries while batting first in ODIs. Legendary Tendulkar tops the chart with 32 tons.

1573 – Star India batter Kohli has now amassed the third-most runs (1573) in the history of World Cups. He went past Sangakkara’s tally of 1532 runs. Tendulkar and Ponting are in the first and second positions for racking up 2278 and 1743 runs, respectively.

6046 – Kohli also reached the landmark of 6000 ODI runs in India.