Billions of Indian fans, billions of cricket fans were waiting for the Men in Blue to commence their 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup campaign. The wait was finally over, and the match at Rose Bowl certainly did not disappoint.

A professional performance, as skipper Virat Kohli said, led to a confident win for Team India in their CWC19 opener. A remarkable Rohit Sharma century and fantastic performances by Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah with the ball powered the team to victory. 

Faf du Plessis won the toss in Southampton and put Kohli’s men to bowl first. The Men in Blue decided to complement the glorious pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Bumrah with the wrist-spinning pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal.

The pacers did a wonderful job as they made the Proteas struggle in the powerplay. Playing his 50^th ODI in national colours, Bumrah was at his menacing best as he hit the deck hard and got the better of the two openers. A talking point of the first innings was Kohli’s decision to field at third slip. Quinton de Kock could not resist having a go at the slightly wide, full length delivery that found its way into the Indian skipper’s hands.

Further, the spin twins showed why the management trusted them. Chahal’s knack of picking wickets was evident as he dented the South Africa’s batting just when a partnership was blooming. In a single over, the leggie sent du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen back to the pavilion, leaving the Proteas maimed at 80/4 in 20 overs.

Even as the innings progressed, Indians were the happier set of fans in the Rose Bowl stands as their team dominated the proceedings. No matter the bowler running in, the Proteas’ misery at the World Cup had no intention of letting loose. Chris Morris’ 42 was the highest score in their innings which painted a fitting picture of their performance. Andile Phehlukwayo and Kagiso Rabada made valuable contributions of 34 and 31 respectively towards the latter stage of the innings. However, Chahal’s four-wicket haul and a brace from Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar each restricted the Proteas to 227 in their 50 overs.

In pursuit to salvage the game and their spell at the World Cup, the South Africans came in with intent and pace. Rabada displayed exemplary pace bowling, making it hard for the Indian openers to get into their own. Dhawan’s early departure in the sixth over came off the hands of the quickie was no surprise.

However, the very next Rabada over saw a change of events as the Hitman freed his arms and scored three boundaries to bring some momentum to India’s batting. Skipper Kohli and KL Rahul played cameos as Rohit led the charge.

MS Dhoni played second fiddle to Rohit, as the pair continued to keep the scoreboard ticking. The Proteans let a couple of half-chances slip away, giving Rohit and India some respite. Rohit, on the other hand, made full use of the extra lives given to him. Pacing his knock in a mature fashion, he brought up his 23^rd ODI ton, putting him third on India’s ODI century charts – after Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

Dhoni departed for a 46-ball 34 as a miscue off his bat culminated in a caught and bowl wicket for Morris. However, Team India were far from perturbed as Hardik Pandya came in to finish it off in style. A quick-fire 15 for Hardik and an unbeaten 122-run knock by Rohit got India over the line with six wickets in hand.

The next game for the Men in Blue will be against Australia at the Oval on June 9, Sunday.