After a long wait, India finally took the spot at the 2019 Cricket World Cup, outplaying South Africa by six wickets, beginning their campaign on an emphatic note. From Hitman Rohit Sharma’s century to star pacer Jasprit Bumrah, the first game was indeed a challenge that was put to rest. If that wasn’t enough, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal spun a web around the South Africa batsmen, and returned with the best figures in this World Cup so far, 4/51 from his 10 overs.
Despite not being the highest of totals with 228 as the target, Kohli was confident that his spinners would put up a strong fight. Earlier too, when India and South Africa last played each other in a bilateral series, the Men in Blue had outclassed the Proteas 6-1 in the seven-match ODI series using their recipe of ‘Kul-Cha’. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were the key bowlers in that series, and using the same duo now was a tactic to recreate the victory.
With Kohli leading the team for the first time in a World Cup series, having a good start was essential, which further helps create a positive vibe in the team. Fans however, were not impressed with India starting off late, especially after certain teams playing twice already. Kohli however saw this as an advantage and said, "When you see other teams playing and what the approach is, from that point of view we would say that we have a lot of positives we can take out of starting late."
