A trio of centuries, including the fastest ever in a World Cup, saw South Africa lay down a commanding marker as they kicked off their World Cup campaign with an authoritative 102-run win over Sri Lanka in Delhi.
Progressively more emphatic centuries from Rassie van der Dussen, Quinton de Kock, and Aiden Markram would in the end prove to be the decisive contributions as a valiant Sri Lankan outfit fell foul of a scary good South African outfit flexing their batting might.
It was a day for the bowlers to forget, with the game largely decided as a straight shootout between the batters. And in that sense, while the end result may show a pretty decisive loss for Sri Lanka, this is a game which they will feel they could garner more positives than what might have seemed possible at the halfway mark.
SA VS SL: Record for most runs in ODI World Cup gets broken
Even though three of their bowlers went for nine or more runs in an over, five of their bowlers averaged over eight runs per over, but a team whose ability to score runs quickly was seriously questioned performed well in what was always going to be an impossible chase.
Kusal Mendis quickly made it to 76 from 42 balls to set the tone for the chase. Before any of his teammates had scored a run, Mendis reached his fifty in just 25 deliveries. Pathum Nissanka went out for a duck, and Kusal Perera remained scoreless as Mendis erupted.
Mendis would reach his fifty in 54 balls, which is the lowest total at which any hitter in men’s ODIs (where known) has reached his fifty. The West Indies, who smashed ten sixes in their first ten overs against England in 2019, had the most sixes in a men’s ODI innings (where we have ball-by-ball statistics), with eight. He would also wallop eight sixes inside the first 10 overs, with Sri Lanka striking nine in total.
With this, the record for most runs in the ODI World Cup has broken. This match witnessed a combined 754 runs. As South Africa scored 428, while Sri Lanka in return scored 326. The previous aggregate (714) was recorded in the ODI World Cup 2019 match between Australia and Bangladesh.
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