London: A fantastic bowling performance followed by some superb batting display from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli helped India beat South Africa by eight wickets in the ICC Champions Trophy at Kennington Oval, London on Sunday. Now India will play Bangladesh in one semi-final.
Speaking about the win, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that it was a good toss to win. “The wicket didn't change too much. It was a decent wicket to bat on. The fielders backed our bowlers. The opportunity comes your way, you have to grab it. It was always good to get him AB de Villiers out early as he can always hurt you. We wanted to step up that intensity. It was important for someone to bat till the end, but Shikhar's intent was outstanding. This is probably our best game we have played so far. We played in Birmingham, we like that pitch, it suits our game. There is no looking back. But there is always room for improvement, always small points you can improve on. We can't rest on our laurels," said Kohli.
South African captain AB de Villiers said. “It was not an ideal way to finish. Credit to them (India) in those first 15-20 overs. They put the pressure on us. We normally don't bat that way. We never got going, very sad obviously. We were hoping to play a better game of cricket. Came unstuck against a better team. Couldn't it get away. We had a lot of soft dismissals.”
Jaspirit Bumrah, who was Man of the Match, said: "It was an important game for us. We wanted to be calm and execute our plans. I'm happy with any role given to me. As long as you're contributing, it's good. The ball doesn't swing too much, so we stuck to the basics, bowl a hard length, don't give room. It was a good toss to win as chasing has been relatively easier."