South Africa continued their dominant run in the ICC World Cup 2023 as they registered a crushing 190-run win over New Zealand in Match 32 at the MCA stadium to dethrone India from the top position of the points table thanks to their superior net run rate.
Chasing a mammoth 358 for victory, the Black Caps got bowled out for just 190 to suffer their third successive defeat in the tournament.
The Kiwis never looked like reaching even close to the target as they kept losing wickets right from the very beginning of their chase, courtesy a fiery spell from Marco Jansen.
The left-arm pacer dented New Zealand early with the wickets of the in-form Devon Conway (2) and Rachin Ravindra (9) which took the wind out of the Kiwi sail in the powerplay.
Jansen & Maharaj finish off NZ
It all went downhill from there on as Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj joined the attack to leave New Zealand reeling at 67 for 4 inside 20 overs.
With their top-four back in the dressing room, New Zealand's middle and lower order posed no challenge for the Protea bowlers who finished the match in 35.3 overs as South Africa registered their sixth win of this edition.
Maharaj bagged 4 for 46 while Jansen bagged three and Coetzee finished with two wickets in a complete bowling performance from the Proteas.
Glenn Phillips's 60 was the only significant knock for New Zealand in their chase but the rest all failed to put a decent score on the board.
Rassie, Quinny go all guns blazing for SA
But the main architects of the win were South African batters Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen, who slammed big hundreds to help the team post 357 for 4 after losing the toss in Pune.
The retiring de Kock became the first batter to cross 500 runs and slam four centuries in this World Cup during his swashbuckling knock of 114 from 116 balls which included 10 fours and three sixes.
QDK also equalled Kumar Sangakkar's 2015 record of smashing four centuries in a single edition of the ODI World Cup.
But van der Dussen eclipsed his teammate by smashing 133 off 118 balls to top-score in the match. Both de Kock and van der Dussen added 200 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for South Africa's third 350-plus score in their campaign and post 357 for 4 in 50 overs.
India challenge awaits Proteas, NZ to face Pak
Next up for the Proteas will be hosts India, who haven't lost a match in this World Cup with six wins on the trot. South Africa and India will lock horns at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on November 5.
New Zealand meanwhile, will take on Pakistan in a virtual knockout match as the loser will most definitely crash out of the race for the semi-finals.
The Black Caps will have a mathematical chance of reaching the last-four even if they lose but even that equation will be next to impossible for Tom Latham's team to progress.
