South Africa's Aiden Markram in action against Sri Lanka in Arun Jaitley Stadium, October 7, 2023.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Even those not particularly fond of statistics were forced to apply themselves, even if superficially, on the internet to get an estimate of just how many records were broken on a bizarre Saturday in New Delhi.
Surely, it’s impossible to get an accurate number, even statisticians at the Arun Jaitley stadium gave up after a point, but the ones that mattered were: South Africa became the team with the highest innings total in the history of World Cups, and Aiden Markram became the owner to the record of the fastest centurion in the same tournament.
South Africa scored 428 for 5 in 50 overs, leapfrogging Australia’s 417 for 6 against Afghanistan in the 2015 World Cup.
Markram bludgeoned 106 from 54 balls, but more pertinently his century came up in 49 balls, which was a delivery less than what Kevin O’Brien had taken to get to triple figures against England during the 2011 World Cup.
While you continue to wrap your head around the sheer volume of runs and the pace (8.56 runs per over) at which they were scored in a game which South Africa won by 102 runs, spare a thought for Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen for if it wasn’t for a belter of a 204-run second-wicket stand, Markram would not have had the desired launchpad.
De Kock’s mesmerising 84-ball hundred and Van der Dussen’s mostly (he was dropped twice) impregnable 110-ball 108 meant South Africa were staring at a 350-plus score by the time the duo separated in the 31st over.
Sri Lanka, who are surely at war with themselves for having chosen to bowl on this wicket, would have hoped for the run flow to drop a tad. What followed, instead, was more a massacre than an education in target setting.
Markram, equipped with a visceral understanding that he could afford to fail and that the wicket was belter for batters, went at an already down-in-the-dumps Sri Lankan bowling unit as if possessed.
Each shot came with the sound of cannons and broken fingers on the field and in the stands. As for the visual: it was - unexaggeratedly - a culmination of AB de Villiers’ genius and Faf du Plessis’ spatial awareness. It didn’t help Sri Lanka that they were without Maheesh Theekshana due to a minor niggle.
In that, Kusal Mendis’ onslaught in response wasn’t much too different and was no less beautiful. But once the right-handed stylist was undone on 76, Sri Lanka’s hopes more or less vanished. This after they got to 109 for 2 in 12.4 overs.
Charith Asalanka went on to make 79, and skipper Dasun Shanaka managed a feisty 68, but all that would only translate to 326 all out in 44.5 overs.
Brief scores: South Africa: 428/5 in 50 overs (Quinton de Kock 100, Rassie van der Dussen 108, Aiden Markram 106, Dilshan Madushanka 2-86) bt Sri Lanka: 326 all out in 44.5 overs (Kusal Mendis 76, Charith Asalanka 79, Dasun Shanaka 68, Kasun Rajitha 33; Marco Jansen 2-92, Kagiso Rabada 2-50, Keshav Maharaj 2-62, Gerald Coetzee 3-68). Result: SA won by 102 runs. PoM: Aiden Markram.