Virat Kohli-led Indian side will begin their World Cup campaign when they have taken on South Africa at The Rose Bowl in Southampton today. Men-in-Blue is the only team left in the tournament to have not played a match yet while struggling South Africa have already lost their opening two matches — to England and Bangladesh. The two-time world champions India plan to push the Africa side towards elimination by deploying a strong and unpredictable bowling line-up led by the top-ranked ODI bowler Jasprit Bumrah, ably supported by pacer Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal further lend variety to India’s attack. Kohli, in his first 50-over World Cup as captain, is the key to India’s batting. Backed by an able in-form team, including legend MS Dhoni behind the stumps, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan as openers, young in form batsman KL Rahul and finisher Hardik Pandya, Kohli will not be eying only the World Champions title but also be carrying the weight of more than a billion fellow Indians’ hopes. In another match of the day, Bangladesh will take on New Zealand at London at 6 p.m. Indian Standard Time. From today, All India Radio will broadcast live commentary on the World Cup every day. In a tweet, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said, the commentary originated by Akashvani will also be available via Internet streaming on a pilot basis for the first time. Last night, Sri Lanka defeated Afghanistan by 34 runs by Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method at Cardiff last night. The match was curtailed to 41 overs per side after rain interrupted play when 33 overs were bowled. Chasing a revised target of 187 runs, Afghanistan made 152.
