India crushed South Africa by eight wickets Sunday to reach the Champions Trophy semifinals and knock the world's top-ranked team out of the tournament. South Africa crumbled from 116 for one to 191 all out in good batting conditions at The Oval before Shikhar Dhawan (78) and Virat Kohli (76 not out) shared a fluent partnership of 128 to lead India to victory with 12 overs to spare. The defending champion followed host England and Bangladesh into the last four as Group B winner and it will be joined by the winner of Monday's final Group B game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Kohli's men will face Group A runner-up Bangladesh in Birmingham Thursday as it bids to make the final for the fourth time. "Our bowlers bowled really well and the fielders backed it up. It was a complete performance in the field — we grabbed the chances that came our way," captain Kohli said at the presentation ceremony. "The guys really stepped up with their intensity." South Africa started cautiously after being sent in to bat as Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock added 76 for the first wicket without undue alarm. Amla raised the tempo with a six over mid-wicket but, on 35, he tried to cut spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and nicked a sharp catch to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. South Africa was 94 for one after 20 overs and De Kock reached a tidy half-century off 68 balls before he was deceived by spinner Ravindra Jadeja and bowled for 53. South Africa then pressed the self-destruct button with two run-outs in quick succession. Captain AB de Villiers, on 16, perished trying to pinch a quick single and David Miller (one) was dismissed in farcical circumstances with both batsmen stranded at the same end to leave South Africa struggling at 142 for four. Its hopes of a substantial total rested on the shoulders of Faf du Plessis but his scratchy knock of 36 ended when he dragged a ball from medium-pacer Hardik Pandya on to his stumps. Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel soon joined him back in the pavilion and the innings petered out in the 45th over when Imran Tahir became the third run-out victim. India began its reply positively and both openers had struck sixes before Rohit Sharma drove loosely at Morkel and was caught by wicketkeeper De Kock for 12. Kohli joined Dhawan and after surviving hostile spells from Morkel and Rabada the pair started to play with more freedom. Dhawan crunched Morris over mid-on for his eighth four to reach his 50 and the left-hander played some brutal strokes before he skied Tahir to Du Plessis at long-off. Kohli remained in total control, however, and Yuvraj Singh hoisted JP Duminy over mid-wicket for a huge six to complete the most comfortable of wins for his team. "It's not an ideal way to finish the tournament," De Villiers said. "It's disappointing, but credit to them. They put a lot of pressure on us. "We got something nice going until the run-outs which cost us highly today. We just came unstuck against a better team."
H. Amla c Dhoni b Ashwin 35 De Kock b Jadeja 53 Du Plessis b Pandya 36 De Villiers run out 16 D. Miller run out 01 JP Duminy not out 20 C. Morris c Kumar b Bumrah 04 A. Phehlukwayo lbw b Bumrah 04 K. Rabada c Dhoni b Kumar 05 M. Morkel c Kohli b Kumar 00 I. Tahir run out 01 Extras: (6lb, 10w) 16 Total: (all out, 44.3 overs) 191 Falls: 1-76, 2-116, 3-140, 4-142, 5-157, 6-167, 7-178, 8-184, 9-184, 10-191. Bowling: Bhuvneshar Kumar 7.3-0-23-2, Jasprit Bumrah 8-0-28-2, Ravichandran Ashwin 9-0-43-1, Hardik Pandya 10-0-52-1, Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-39-1. India
R. Sharma c de Kock b Morkel 12 S. Dhawan c du Plessis b Tahir 78 V. Kohli not out 76 Yuvraj not out 23 Extras: (2lb, 1w, 1nb) 04 Total: (2 wickets, 38 overs) 193 Did not bat: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah. Falls: 1-23, 2-151. Bowling: Kagiso Rabada 9-2-34-0, Morne Morkel 7-1-38-1, Andile Phehlukwayo 5-0-25-0, Chris Morris 8-0-40-0, Imran Tahir 6-0-37-1, JP Duminy 3-0-17-0. — AP
