India beat South Africa in Champions Trophy opening match

India beat South Africa by 26 runs in their opening match at the ICC Champions Trophy in Cardiff on Thursday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost the toss and asked to bat first in the chilly morning. India made 331 for 7 in 50 overs courtesy Shikhar Dhawan’s maiden ODI century. Dhawan scored power-filled 114 off 94 balls.

Rohit Sharma who opened the innings with Dhawan in place of Murali Vijay made useful 65. The openers gave a solid start to the team with 127-run opening stand. Ravindra Jadeja’s quick 47* from 29 balls helped India to reach the mammoth total.

Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina and captain MS Dhoni failed to make any impression with bats.

For South Africa de Villiers (70) Robin Peterson (68) and Ryan McLaren (71*) tried to reach the target however they fell short as they finished on 305. The partnership between Peterson and de Villiers added 120-runs to South Africa.

Ravindra Jadeja took 2 wickets (2/31) at the crucial time and remains the cheapest bowler for India.

This was India’s first ICC ODI tournament without Sachin Tendulkar since 1987.

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