In his very first over, Maharaj had knocked Shubman Gill (23) over with a ripper that beat his outside edge to trim the off bail. When Maharaj bowled a similar delivery to Kohli, the ball missed the outside edge. Having run away to a fast start – he was on 17 off 13 balls at one point – Kohli slowed down against spin, but he saw out that passage of play to pick the seamers away. When Lungi Ngidi was brought back into the attack in the 35th over, Kohli jumped out of his crease and shovelled him away for four.

Maharaj’s boundary-less spell – 10-0-30-1 – was a throwback to ODIs in the 90s. Even Shreyas Iyer, who is arguably India’s best player of spin, couldn’t throw Maharaj off his lines and lengths. Iyer instead lined up Shamsi for four boundaries and allowed Kohli to bat deep into the innings. After being on 12 off 35 balls, Iyer zoomed to 77 off 87 balls.

With no batting insurance in the form of Hardik Pandya, who has now been sidelined from the rest of the tournament, Kohli refused to take any undue risks. Suryakumar Yadav (22) and Jadeja (29) took such risks at the other end, ensuring that India passed 300.

It was Rohit who had laid the foundation for the 134-run third-wicket partnership between Kohli and Iyer. The India captain dashed out of the blocks in the powerplay, cracking 40 off 24 balls. He dismantled Marco Jansen, the most prolific bowler in the powerplay in this tournament, and Ngidi, South Africa’s enforcer in the absence of Gerald Coetzee.

Jansen ended up conceding 94 in 9.4 overs for just one wicket. As for Ngidi, he left the field two balls into the final over of India’s innings with an injury scare.

South Africa’s troubles then seeped into their batting. Quinton de Kock chopped Mohammed Siraj on in the second over while Temba Bavuma was bowled by Jadeja, who got the new ball to drag away past the outside edge.

Things were only going to get tougher against the older ball. Jadeja and Mohammed Shami overpowered South Africa’s middle order. Jadeja removed Henrich Klaasen and David Miller while Shami bested Aiden Markram with Test-match line and length. After bringing a pair of deliveries back into Markram from over the wicket, Shami had one to leave the batter and kiss the outside edge.

At one stage, it appeared like India might not even need Kuldeep Yadav, their premier spinner, with the ball. But Jansen and the tail wagged long enough to prompt the introduction of the left-arm wrist-spinner. Kuldeep kept them guessing by turning the ball both ways and came away with two wickets. Jadeja claimed his second five-wicket haul in ODI cricket; he also became the second Indian spinner  after Yuvraj Singh, to take a five-for in World Cups.