India Beat South Africa to Book 2017 ICC Champions Trophy Semi-Final Spot
India (193/2) cruised to an eight-wicket win (with 72 balls remaining) over South Africa (191) during Sunday's 2017 ICC Champions Trophy action, booking their semi-final spot in the process.
Shikhar Dhawan (78 from 83 balls) and Virat Kohli (unbeaten 76) powered the chase after the Men in Blue held the Proteas to just 191 all-out in the first innings. The former made some history along the way, via Broken Cricket:
The Proteas' openers did a fine job stringing together overs early in the first innings, with Quinton de Kock (53 from 72 balls) and Hashim Amla (35 from 54 balls) giving their side a steady stream of runs to build off.
With wickets to spare, the rest of the lineup fell short of the expectations. While Faf du Plessis added 36 from 50 balls, South Africa couldn't push the run rate into higher numbers, and India punished every single mistake the Proteas made.
Indian Premier League star Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the way with two wickets and 23 runs conceded in 7.3 overs, good for an economy rate of just 3.06. The target of 192 seemed very manageable, although CricTracker's Sampath Bandarupalli noted history was not on the side of the Men in Blue:
While Rohit Sharma only managed to add 12 runs to the chase, the duo of Dhawan and Kohli did a fantastic job, powering the chase until the 31st overs.
When Dhawan was caught, Yuvraj Singh (unbeaten 23) proved an adequate replacement, and the chase continued without so much as a hiccup.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan will meet in Wales on Monday for the final match of the group stages, with the fourth semi-final ticket on the line. England and Bangladesh have already qualified from Group A.
