Australia skipper Pat Cummins had said on match eve that both teams were ‘very similar’, but there were few parallels between them on Thursday as South Africa mauled the five-champion by 134 runs in a World Cup match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here.
With the pitch at the venue being re-laid recently, the contest was a dive into the unknown for both sides, but the Aussies seemed to be thrown at the deeper end of it as their batting wilted against pace and spin on a wicket that saw the Proteas put up another compelling show with the bat, led by opener Quinton de Kock (109, 106b, 8x4, 5x6).
Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis fell to questionable decisions by the third umpire on review while the others failed to cobble together partnerships to steer the 312-run chase. Smith was stunned to see the ball-tracking system show the ball was hitting leg-stump while Stoinis felt he had gloved the ball when his hand was off the bat handle.
