Sri Lanka lose World Cup opener against South Africa

South Africa Bowl out Sri Lanka for 326 runs in their first encounter in this year’s World Cup, with a record 754 runs scored between the teams for the highest aggregate in a World Cup match.

Sri Lanka having won the toss and opting to bowl first, were off to a decent start having dismissed the Proteas skipper for just 8 but a partnership of 204 runs between Quinton De Kock and Rassie van der Dussen set the foundation for a massive total at the Arjun Jaitley Stadium.

Following De Kock’s dismissal in the very next ball after scoring his hundred, comes Aiden Markram who made a brutal innings scoring the fastest World Cup century in just 49 balls. Klassen and Miller with the quickfire 30s helped South Africa reach a giant total of 429, the highest in World Cups. Almost all bowlers went for over 80 runs with Madushanka taking 2 wickets.

Chasing a mammoth target, Kusal Mendis started off well with a quickfire 76 despite the openers bowled by Marco Jensen and Charith Asalanka top scored with 79. However, Sri Lanka lost too many wickets after getting good starts and in the end, fell short by 102 runs.

A positive innings by Dasun Shanaka with some lusty blows in the latter part of the game looked promising but was in vain as he was bowled out. Kasun Rajitha’s 33 run cameo was purely for pride. Gerard Coetzee took 3 wickets and Markram was named Player of the Match.

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