Photo: AFP
New Delhi: India skipper Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan guided India to victory by 8 wickets against World No.1 South Africa to book their place in the semi-final of ICC Champions Trophy.
Chasing an easy target of 192 runs, Shikhar Dhawan continued his love affair with ICC events and smashed 78 runs while he was joined by Virat Kohli, who played classy knock of unbeaten 76 runs to set up tie against Asian rivals Bangladesh in the final four.
The duo stitched 128-run stand for the second after Rohit Sharma was dimissed cheaply in the 6th over.
Earlier, Disciplined Indian bowling restricted South Africa to 191 runs in 44.3. Opener Quinton de Kock was the highest scorer with 53 runs from 72 balls.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bagged two wickets each.
Sunday's encounter is a must-win affair for both teams. The winner will qualify for the semi-finals while the loser will bow out.
Asked to bat, South Africa were off to a slow but steady start with openers de Kock and Hashim Amla adding 35 runs in the first 10 overs.
They jacked up the run rate in subsequent overs as the Indian bowlers struggled to get going.
Star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin got the breakthrough for India when Amla mistimed a cut and Mahendra Singh Dhoni displayed lighting quick reflexes to glove the top edge.
The opening partnership of 76 runs came off 17.3 overs.
Faf du Plesis joined Quinton in the middle and they made 40 runs in 41 balls.
Ravindra Jadeja struck the second blow for India when he knocked back Quinton's off-stump.
Quinton's dismissal saw the Indian bowlers starting to dominate proceedings as the rest of the South African batsmen displayed poor shot selection at times.
Except for AB de Villiers and Jean-Paul Duminy, none of the other batsmen were able to reach double figures.