India are all set to begin their World Cup 2019 campaign on Wednesday against South Africa in Southampton. Faf du Plessis’s side has had forgettable tournament so far as they lost the first couple pf matches.
First, the Proteas suffered a defeat at the hands of hosts England in the opening match by 104 runs and then lost to Bangladesh by 21 runs. Despite the losses, the Proteas are a dangerous and if we look at the statistics, they lead India 3-1 in the four matches been played between the two teams so far in the history of the tournament.
Here’s a look at the four matches.
1992- Adelaide
The first time the two teams played each other in a World Cup match was back in 1992 edition. It was the first time when South Africa were taking part in the competition. A rain-affected match between the two teams was reduced to 30 overs a side and India batted first. Captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s 79 off 77 and Kapil Dev’s quick-fire 29-ball 42 helped India score 180/6. Later Andrew Hudson and Peter Kirsten struck an opening stand of 128 runs in the 181-run chase to eventually help their side completed the win by 6 wickets and five balls to spare.
1999-Hove
The second time the two sides played against each was in 1999. India again batted first and scored 253/5. Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly went on to score individual half-centuries. Dravid scored 54 while Ganguly struck 97. In reply, South Africa had a dismal start and were left tottering at 22/2 but Jacques Kallis took the initiative and scored 96 to help his side win the match by 4 wickets and 16 balls to spare.
2011- Nagpur
The third instance came in the 2011 edition that was hosted by India. India for the third time batted first in Nagpur and started off pretty well. Openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag scored 142 for the first. Sehwag struck 73 while Tendulkar brought up another ODI hundred to eventually score 111. Gautam Gambhir who came in at number 3 also scored a half-century. But fast bowler Dale Steyn had different plans as he scalped a five-wicket haul and restricted India to 296. Later, half-centuries from Hashim Amla (61), Jacques Kallis (69) and AB de Villiers (52) and some brisk hitting by Faf du Plessis (25* off 23) and Robin Peterson (18* off 7) helped South Africa win the match by 3 wickets with two balls to spare.
2015- Melbourne
The 2015 edition of the World Cup concluded India’s wait against South Africa as they got their first win in Melbourne. India batted first for the fourth time and riding on a fine hundred from Shikhar Dhawan, they posted 307/7 in allotted 50 overs. In reply, to India’s 307, South Africa never got into the groove and lost the match by a huge margin of 130 runs.
