New Delhi: India keeps their undefeated streak intact as they beat Sri Lanka by 302 runs and also become the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the ICC World Cup 2023.
𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙊 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙀𝙈𝙄𝙎! 🙌#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 becomes the first team to qualify for the #CWC23 semi-finals 👏👏#MenInBlue | #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/wUMk1wxSGX
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 2, 2023
The Sri Lankan team came to chase the 358 runs target set by team India but was never in the chase as Bumrah struck on the very first ball, and they also lost both their openers, Karunaratne (0) and Pathum Nissanka (0) on the first ball duck.
Siraj sent Sadeera Samarwickrama (0) and skipper Kusal Mendis (1) back into the pavilion inside 5 overs mark to reduce Sri Lanka to 3 for 4.
The third India pacer Md. Shami joined the party by adding another five wickets haul to his career by removing Charith Asalanka (1), Dushan Hemantha (0), Dushmantha Chameera (0), Angelo Mathews (12) and Kasun Rajitha (14) to reduce the Sri Lankan innings to 49 for 9.
Md. Shami with his 5 wickets against Sri Lanka became the highest wicket-taking Indian bowler in World Cup history with 45 wickets under his name.
Ravindra Jadeja gave the final blow by removing Dilshan Madhushanka (5) to help India register a monstrous 302-run victory over the Sri Lankan Lions.
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Rohit scored a first ball boundary but was dismissed on the very second ball by Dilshan Madhushanka.
Subhman Gill (92) and Virat Kohli (88), then added 189 runs for the second wicket before both getting dismissed by Madhushanka again.
After India lost two quick wickets, Shreyas Iyer(82) took the innings forward with 50+ partnerships with KL Rahul (21) and Ravindra Jadeja.
Ravindra Jadeja (35) gave the finishing touches with some big hits in the last two overs, taking the innings total to 357 for 8 in 50 overs.
Dilshan Madhushanka was once again Sri Lanka’s go to bowler with a five wickets haul under his name, meanwhile Dushmantha Chameera also secured one wicket for himself.
Batting (1st innings)
India: 357/8 (50 overs), Subhman Gill- 92 (92), Virat Kohli- 88 (94)
Bowling (1st innings)
Sri Lanka: Madhushanka- 5/80 (10 overs), Chameera- 1/71 (10 overs)
Batting (2nd innings)
Sri Lanka: 55/10 (19.2 overs), Rajitha- 14 (17), Theekshana- 12* (23)
Bowling (2nd innings)
India: Md. Shami- 5/18 (5 overs), Md. Siraj- 3/16 (7 0vers)
Key moments:
Jadeja finishes things off
Jadeja removes Madhushanka on 5 as India wins the match by 302 runs.
Five wickets haul for Shami
Shami completes his five wickets haul as Rajitha departs on 14.
Shami with his fourth
Md. Shami gets his fourth wicket as Sri Lanka loses its 8th.
Shami, with his third
The umpire gave it wide, but Rahul and Gill pressured the captain to review it and a successful one it was.
Sensational Shami
Md. Shami continues his red-hot form with a double wicket maiden in his very first over.
Siraj and Sri Lanka
Md. Siraj continues his love story with Sri Lanka as he gets his third wicket in his 2nd over.
Siraj joins the party
Siraj strikes twice in his first over as Sri Lanka are 3 down inside two overs.
First ball wicket for Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah gives India the dream start with first ball wicket.
Jadeja run-out
India gets only 1 from the final ball as Jadeja gets run out on 35.
Shami run-out
Md. Shami gets run out while trying to sneak in a single.
Five-wicket haul for Madhushanka
Dilshan Madhushanka gets his 5th as Shreyas Iyer departs on 82.
Iyer gets his 50
Shreyas Iyer completes his fifty in the 43rd fifty.
Madhushanka strikes again
Madhushanka gets another wicket as Surya departs on 12.
Chameera strikes
Chameera gets his first as Rahul departs on 21.
No number 49 for Kohli
Virat Kohli missed his 49th ODI century by 12 runs, Madhushanka gets his third.
Gill gone
Subhman Gill goes on 92 as Madhushanka gets his 2nd.
Gill with his 50
Subhman Gill completes his 11th ODI fifty in the 19th over.
100 partnership up
Virat Kohli and Subhman Gill completes their 100 runs partnership in 98 balls.
Kohli with his 50
Virat Kohli completes his 70th ODI fifty in the 17th over.
50 partnership up
Virat Kohli and Subhman Gill completes fifty runs partnership in 51 balls.
Dropped catches
Sri Lanka drops both Subhman Gill and Virat Kohli inside 5 balls.
Big wicket
Dream start from Sri Lanka as Madhushanka dismisses Rohit Sharma on the second ball.
The hosts, India, will be walking into the match as the clear favourites as they are yet to lose any match in the ICC World Cup 2023 and are standing just one win away from a confirmed final 4 finish.
The batting looks in tremendous form under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, who is leading the team from the front in this tournament.
He is getting great support from the likes of Subhman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, who if we keep their last match aside, is looking in tremendous form.
However, India’s biggest strength is their bowlers, who have not conceded 300+ runs in any match, in a tournament filled with high-scoring matches.
Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja was already looking dangerous, but the addition of Md. Shami into the fray has given the team a whole new strength to finish their decade-long hunt for an ICC trophy.
On the other hand, Sri Lankan Lions have performed in bits and pieces and are yet to become an actual danger to their opponents.
They lost their captain Dasun Shanaka early in the tournament due to injury and the extra captaincy pressure on Kusal Mendis seems to be bothering him with his form.
In the bowling department, except Madhushanka, no one else has looked dangerous enough to create pressure in the opponent’s batting line-up and has leaked way too many runs in every match.
The addition of Angelo Mathews will definitely help them a great deal, but will it be enough to get them one over the men in blue, that will be a question they would like to answer on Thursday.
