ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Twitter erupts after India demolish South Africa
Indian fans were in for a treat as India won by 6 wickets in their World Cup opening match against South Africa. Vice-captain Rohit Sharma was unbeaten at 122. So safe to say that his unbeaten score helped India chase down a 228-run target in 47.3 overs.
Indian captain Virat Kohli made only 18 runs but was full of praise for Rohit Sharma and other supporting batsmen.
The World Cup had some pretty dramatic moments with Bangladesh defeating South Africa and Pakistan defeating England in their respective matches.
India played two practice games ahead of the World Cup with the last one taking place on May 29 against Bangladesh.
India suffered a disappointing loss against New Zealand in the first practice match, but enjoyed a 95-run win against Bangladesh in the second warm-up match.
South Africa's batting and bowling were inadequate in the first two games, but surprisingly, their fielding has been below par too. Towards the end of the match, David Miller even put down a regulation skier from Rohit Sharma. South Africa have now registered three consecutive losses in the World Cup.
After the victory, Indian Twitter erupted in an outburst of congratulatory messages, fist-bumps and jokes. Former cricketers, and cricket commentators could hardly contain their glee at the clinical performance from the men in blue:
Not the first time that we have seen Rohit take up the mantle to win the game game on his own when Virat gets out early. India so fortunate to have such batsmen.👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏#INDvSA #ICCCWC2019
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) June 5, 2019
Wonderful result for India. Many boxes ticked. Bumrah was magnificent as was Chahal and India will like the solidity from Rahul and Dhoni. And Rohit Sharma was unhurried, his slowest odi century but one that was invaluable
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) June 5, 2019
A wonderful, mature innings from Rohit Sharma. Great assessment of the situation and seeing India through to the win in the end, a hallmark of top players @ImRo45 . A well begun World Cup campaign for Team India #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/Hmul57c4BO
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) June 5, 2019
23 days ago some mercy and amazing gesture for DeKock, but today no mercy . Jasprit
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) June 5, 2019
Bumrah, what a spell #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/I1nvvkHC8u
A great game of cricket played by #TeamIndia.@yuzi_chahal and @Jaspritbumrah93 bowled exceptionally well and gave 🇮🇳 a perfect start.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) June 5, 2019
It was lovely to see @ImRo45 play a mature innings and stay till the end and get us home.#INDvSA #CWC19 #MatchDekhaKya pic.twitter.com/006sOK4J1X
But what is Twitter without a few jokes. Some used Rohit's Herculean effort to mock arch-rival Pakistan's low score in their opener against New Zealand, while others roasted an uncharacteristically bad South African fielding effort:
Whole Pakistan :- 105 ALl out
— V I P E R™ (@TheViper_offl) June 5, 2019
Rohit Sharma alone :- 122*
Rohit Sharma won by 17 runs 😂#IndvSA
Rabada waiting for Miller in the dressing room.#INDvSA pic.twitter.com/MVdcmo4ITw
— Vishesh Arora (@vishesharora19) June 5, 2019
I went to SBI thrice in last 7 days but couldn't open my account. I feel like South Africa. #INDvSA
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) June 5, 2019
South Africa is lucky they scored only 227. Denied Rohit Sharma the opportunity to score yet another double ton. #INDvSA #Hitman #CWC19
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) June 5, 2019
Some helpful Twitter users were kind enough to point out statistical tidbits and career milesones:
Rohit Sharma in World cups:
— HitmanUniverse (@RoUniverse45) June 6, 2019
Matches: 9
Runs: 452*
100s: 2
50s : 2#INDvSA #TeamIndia @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/P3zCBNuF4v
Highest ODI Ave in England (min 15 innings)
— HitmanUniverse (@RoUniverse45) June 6, 2019
67.41 ROHIT SHARMA
64.04 Viv Richards
61.50 Shikhar Dhawan
61.07 Williamson
59.44 Bairstow#INDvSA #CWC19
50th ODI win for Virat Kohli as captain and he is the quickest among all captains from the subcontinent to do so, taking only 69 matches.#CWC19 #SAvIND #INDvSA
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) June 5, 2019
MS DHONI have completed 17,000 Runs In International cricket.
— DHONIsm™ ❤️ (@DHONIism) June 5, 2019
He is the 2nd wicket keeper to reach this after Sangakkara#DhoniAtCWC19 #INDvSA #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/n4kkVFJgkM
Turns out even politicians are not immune to cricket fever. From a former BJP president to the current defence minister, politicans also took to twitter to congratulate the men in blue:
Congratulations to Team #India for a superb start. 🇮🇳
— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) June 5, 2019
My best wishes to “Men In Blue” for #WorldCup2019 #INDvSA
Congratulations #RohitSharma @ImRo45 for the fantastic unbeaten century and #TeamIndia for 1st win in @cricketworldcup !
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) June 5, 2019
All the best for the next ones !#INDvSA #SAvIND @BCCI
Congratulations #TeamIndia for beginning #CWC19 journey today with a splendid win against South Africa. Congrats @ImRo45 for a splendid century.
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) June 5, 2019
Best wishes to the entire Indian team led by @imVkohli for success in the remaing part of the tournament too.
#INDvSA pic.twitter.com/ZT8DM4rphC
Well begun is half done! Congratulations to #TeamIndia for the superb victory against South Africa in #CWC2019
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 5, 2019
In this match we witnessed some memorable performances by @yuzi_chahal, @Jaspritbumrah93 & @ImRo45. Overall it was a solid teamwork.
Best wishes for the games ahead.
