Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has said India is showing that they’re the best team by a long margin in the ongoing World Cup 2023 after a huge win of 243 runs against South Africa at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday. This was India’s eighth win in as many games as their juggernaut continued. With this win, India has also secured their top finish in the league stage.
India is still the only unbeaten team in the tournament and they have looked head and shoulders above the remaining nine teams. South Africa, who are second in the standings, were thrashed like a club team by Rohit Sharma’s men.
India is winning consistently by huge margins and it is going to be difficult to stop them if they continue the good show. The hosts also have an NRR of +2.456 and they have come up with a collective effort.
Virat Kohli scored his record-leveling 49th ODI century as he played a sensible knock of 101 runs whereas Shreyas Iyer scored 77 runs. On the other hand, South Africa was bundled out for 83 runs with Ravindra Jadeja taking a five-wicket haul (5-33).
“You want to be the champions, you want to make sure that you win big. You want to show that you are the best team in the competition by a long distance, and that’s exactly what the Indian team is doing at the moment. There is a match against the Netherlands which might be inconsequential because India is only now number one. But they don’t want to stumble anywhere once it comes to the knock-out stages,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports.
Gavaskar added it is imperative for India to get the winning impetus on their side before the crucial knockout stages. India hasn’t been at their absolute best in the knockouts and they will want to turn the tables.
“The whole temperament, your whole mental attitude towards the match will change because in the group stage you always think, Oh, there’s another match to come. But there is no next day if you have a bad day in the in the knockouts. So you want to get into that winning rhythm. You want to get into that winning mentality, and that’s what the Indian team is doing,” Gavaskar added.
India will next take on the Netherlands at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday.
