South Africa vs India, 8th match at Southampton, , Jun 05 2019 - Match Result

Right, guys. That brings us to the end of our coverage from Southampton. But World Cup action continues. New Zealand are taking rapid strides in their chase against Bangladesh at The Oval. Andrew Miller, I promise, will be great company in our #LiveReport. Plenty coming up from Southampton. Nagraj Gollapudi and Andrew Fidel Fernando will be filing away shortly. For the moment, I'll take a short breather. Thanks so much again. It's been a pleasure. Goodbye from me, Shashank Kishore, and Debayan Sen.

Virat Kohli: The wait was very long, and then you get a game like this. Was challenging throughout the whole game. Was important to start on the right note, have a win that was complete. If you look at how the game went and pitch behaved, it was challenging. Hats off to Rohit, very professional win. We were going to bowl first had we won the toss, with the new ball conditions were going to be difficult, they were coming off two losses.

[On Bumrah]: Jasprit is operating at a different level, batsmen are always feeling pressure. Chahal too was outstanding. There's one thing when you see a bowler bowl and when you catch the ball, you understand the heaviness. The next 15 minutes my hands were buzzing (after taking the catch to dismiss De Kock), that's how quickly Bumrah is bowling. Was absolutely outstanding to get Amla out like that in ODIs, I haven't seen it (caught in the slips). To get Quinny as well was outstanding. We're confident as a group, with the bat we had to be careful. That's why I said Rohit's innings was special. One of the top three getting a 100 is something we bank on, KL was superb, showed composure, MS too and then Hardik, the way he finished, he seems to be in a good headspace as well."

Faf du Plessis: "Their bowling was magnificent, got good fast bowlers and spinners. We did well to pull it back with the bat before their spinners ran through our middle order. Rohit had a bit of luck but he did what didn't do - get a hundred and win the game. It was a really good pitch, lot of runs scored. With all our fast-bowling resources gone, we picked an extra spinner, it meant we needed a score to bring them into play.

[On decision to bat]: Had we had Steyn and Ngidi, it may have made sense to bat first. Rabada is a champion, haven't seen so many balls lands short of go here and there. But that's how the game goes, when you aren't playing your best cricket, these 50-50 things don't go your way. Morris too was superb, bowled well and scored some crucial runs with the bat. Ours is a change room that is hurting, trying to make sure we keep fighting but we're making mistakes all the time. Today someone had to bat through, we didn't do that. To have so many 30s and 40s is not unacceptable"

Shahed: "Perfectly put by Rohit.. this tournament requires all to put their hand up. He speaks with maturity."

Pavan: "South Africa is looking like RCB of IPL"

Sachinfan: "India and SAF if am not wrong started their WC campaign in 99 with the reversed scorecards. Kallis played an anchor role similar to Rohit's. And one Klusener played a similar to Pandyas...I will be happy if India plays like this for rest of the tournament."

Sourabh.G: "Player of the match is Rohit! Sure, Chahal played crucial part in demolishing the SA batting line up. But then, that was some tough bowling condition, especially with the new ball. Rohit did very well to steer India to the victory."

Rohit Sharma is Man of the Match for his 122 not out. "Was something in it for the bowlers through the game, couldn't play my natural game. Had to take my time to play shots, had to cut down certain shots I love to play. Wanted to leave a lot of balls initially, was trying to stick to the basics and build partnerships even though it was a small total. All the batsmen in the team have a job, it's their role to bat through and get the job done. We can't rely on one or two individuals. That's been the hallmark of this team. We've done that well, this is a big tournament and at some stage someone else will put their hand up and do the job for us. We're playing a little early in the summer in England, weather was good through the day, you don't sweat. I had fun, wasn't typical Rohit Sharma innings, had to play out the overs to ensure I get the job done."

6.15pm India have been utterly dominant throughout the day. The only passage when it looked like South Africa would make a match of this was Rabada let it rip early on against India's top three. There would be a few who'd go 'why couldn't they score quicker and boost their net run rate' but the fact is, they respected the bowling, played the conditions well, rode a bit of luck and then cashed in when it mattered.

Rohit Sharma played his part in steering the innings home without any late hiccups. Dhoni spent some time, had a good knock before Hardik came, saw and whacked three boundaries to seal the deal. That said, India's best performer on the night to me: Yuzvendra Chahal. Broke the back of South Africa's innings with four big wickets, including two in an over. Let's see if he's going to be named Player of the Match.

What this loss means is South Africa slip further below as far as qualifying chances go. They now need to win six or at least five more, with a significant boost to their run rate, to have any chance of qualifying. A five-day break couldn't have come at a better time for them, before they take on West Indies on June 10 at this very ground.

Sundar: "Weird scheduling. India have just begun their campaign and SAf with 3 losses, already have one foot out the door." -- Six more wins will do them just about fine

Shouvk: "Saw DeKock give Pandya a quick fistbump. I love that about the IPL. Has definitely fostered camaraderie. "

Andile

Vaibhav Lall: "Should India have accelerated a few overs earlier, keeping in my how net run rate can be a critical factor in the long run in this tournament." -- If you keep stringing wins, net-run-rate won't matter. In a long tournament of nine league games, you really can't play for NRR from the first game. And it wasn't like India was facing a mediocre attack. Steyn or no-Steyn, this is still a competent attack.

Pandya is the new man. Not Jadhav. Rohit crossed over and is on strike

sravan's theory of reverse cup: "The reverse cup is a confusing unnatural mechanism. Although it is considered a more secure way of catching, I've never understood why. The ball tends to roll down or pop out along the inner side of the cup more often than not. Having your body behind the cup would act as a natural protection. The reverse cup, as was just witnessed, just comes in the way of the catch."

tanushree kulka: "The main difference has been the spinners in the 2 teams. Chahal took 4 and Kuldeep 1. Both SA spinners have gone for 6 an over without a single wicket."

sathish: "Like ICC announced Yuvraj as MOS earlier in WC final, I say Rohit Sharma for MoM in today's game" -- I'll go for Chahal. He set it up.

Hunter: "Atleast no one can tell Miller 'you just dropped the cup, mate.'"

Giggity: "Probably the reverse cup didn't help there. Miller's hands looks to have been in his line of sight to the ball coming down" -- Absolutely