South Africa's premier spinner Keshav Maharaj produced an absolute gem of a delivery to get rid of India's dashing opening batter Shubman Gill in the 37th match of the ongoing World Cup 2023. Gill was left gobsmacked by Keshav's conventional left-arm off-spinning delivery which dipped on him and disturbed his furniture.
The event unfolded on the third delivery of the 11th over when a delivery from Keshav drifted into Gill and pitched just marginally outside leg. It turned just enough to beat the outside edge of Gill's bat as the Indian opener tried to work it away on the on side.
The ball kissed the bails and struck Quinton de Kock on his chest. Shubman was in absolute disbelief that he was beaten all ends up and looked at the square leg umpire Paul Reiffel for confirmation only to realise that he was worked over by the South African spin wizard.
Shubman was in fine form in the previous game against Sri Lanka as well. While playing at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in the 33rd match of the tournament, Gill looked unstoppable and punished the Lankan bowlers as they frequently erred in terms of line and length. He scored a run-a-ball 92, including 11 fours and two maximums.
India's playing XI:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Bench:
Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Prasidh Krishna
Support Staff:
Rahul Dravid, Vikram Rathour, Paras Mhambrey, T Dilip
South Africa's playing XI:
Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
Bench:
Andile Phehlukwayo, Reeza Hendricks, Lizaad Williams, Gerald Coetzee
Support Staff:
Rob Walter, Jean-Paul Duminy, Rory Kleinveldt
