Fast Bowlers Mohd Shami(five for 18) and Mohd Siraj (3 for 16) reduced the Sri Lanka batting to smithereens as India trounced the Islanders by302 runs to storm into the semi-finals with seventh stsaight win in the Cricket World cUp at the Wankhade Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

Earlier Opener Shubman Gill (92), Virat Kohli (88) and Shreyas Iyer (82) could not covert their innings with centuries but enabled India pile up 357-8. Interestingly it is the highest team total without an individual century at the World Cup.

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Chasing a target of 358 runs, Sri Lanka lost six wickets for just 14 runs. Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Pathanam Nishank on the first ball of the innings. None of the Sri Lankan batsmen were able to stay at the crease as wickets fell in quick succession. They were bowled out for 55 in 19.4 overs.However the Islanders avoided the embarrassment of recording the lowest score in ODI cricket, They scored five more than they managed in the Asia Cup final;

Bumrah became the first Indian bowler to pick up a wicket on the first ball of the innings in World Cups before Shami picked up three early wickets to rattle the Sri Lankan top order. The scoreboard at that stageread 3/4, before Mohammed Shami joined the party ,he took two in two balls to leave the score at 14/6.

Shami, who was declared Man of the Match, surpassed Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath to become India’s leading wicket-taker with 45 scalps in World Cup history. This is the first time in the World Cup that both opening bowlers have taken wickets off their first legal ball in ODIs

Having posted their biggest total of the tournament so far, India’s pacers ripped through Sri Lanka apart in the powerplay, with Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah removing all of the top four and things went from bad to worse for Sri Lanka when Mohammed Shami took two in two balls to leave the score at 14/6.

Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne and Sadeera Samarawickrama all departed without scoring, with the two openers both falling to the first balls they faced. And captain Kusal Mendis could only add one run as they slipped to four down in an astonishing spell of play.

In India’s innings, Gill’s run a-ball knock was studded with 11 boundaries and two sixes, Kohli scored a well-compiled 94-ball innings included 11 boundaries while Iyer swash buckling 56-ball inning included 3 boundaries and six sixes

India’s start was not good as they lost captain and opener Rohit Sharma (4) off the second ball of the first over when pacer Dishan Madushanka clean bowled him. The left arm pacer was SriLanka’s highest wicket taker claiming five for 80.

However, Islanders could not capitalize on this early breakthrough and soon their fragility in bowling and fielding got exposed as Gill and Kohli put up 189- run for the second wicket while Shreyas Iyer was involved in two half-century partnerships with KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja for the 4th and sixth wicket. Adding to SriLankan woes were dropped catches and bad fielding.

Kohli came and made his intentions clear by flicking Madhusanka to the boundary off the last ball of the over. Kohli who was dropped at nine by Madushanka off his bowling in the fifth over, played cautiously after that but kept scoring off poor deliveries of which the
Sri Lankans bowled quite a few. India ended the first Powerplay at 60/1.

Kolhi survived another chance when Chameera dropped a return catch after getting his hand to the uppish drive . However, after being bit tentative at the start the former India captain regained his rthym and punished the bowlers at will. he paced his innings well and struck 11 fours in his 94-ball 88 reaching his 70th half-century — the fourth of World Cup 2023 and Just when it looked like he would get his second century of the World Cup, Kohli drove Madushanka and was caught by Nissanka at short-cover.

Kohli in the process completed 1000 runs in a calendar year This was the eighth time in his career that he achieved a milestone of scoring 1000 runs in a year, erasing Sachin Tendulkar’s previous record who had achieved the feat seven times in his career. Kohli also remains the only batter to hit ten centuries vs Sri Lanka — a record by any batter against any team in ODIs.

Gill, on the other end was in punishing mood as he scored a run-a-ball 92, hitting Madushanka for successive fours in the fifth over. He completed his fifty off 55 balls . The opener fell eight shorts off his seventh ODI hundred when he tried to ramp a Madushanka off-cutter but knicked it behind to Mendis, . Gill and Kohli fell within three runs.

However, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul kept up the scoring as they raised 60 runs for the fourth wicket and helped India past the 250-run mark. Though Rahul was out for 21 and Suryakumar Yadav failed to capitalise on another opportunity and got out for 12 edging behind Madushanka, Shreyas Iyer struck a superb half-century, his second fifty of the World Cup after an unbeaten 53 against Pakistan at Ahmedabad.

Iyer kept the scoring rate up as he struck a well-timed boundary and hammered Hemantha straight over his head for a big six and followed it up with another six off Rajitha a couple of overs later .The third six came off Theekshana,.He completed his half-century off 36 balls with a four off Theekshana.

He then brought up the half-century of his sixth wicket partnership with Ravindra Jadeja. But Madushanka had the last laugh when he bowled a wide and slower one and Iyer sliced it straight up to extra cover off the tow-end of his bat. His innings of 82 off 56 balls, put India within sniffing distance of the 350 mark. India lost a couple of wickets to run-outs in the last over but managed to post a defendable total.

On the hand Madushanka become the highest wicket-taker in the World Cup with 17 wickets so far as he went past Adam Zampa, ending with figures of 5-80 off his 10 overs.

Brief scores:

India 357/8 in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 92, Virat Kohli 88, Shreyas Iyer 82, Ravindra Jadeja 35; Madushanka 5-80)

Sri Lanka :55 all out in 19.4 overs.(Kasun Rajitha 14, Maheesh Theekshana 12 not out Angelo Mathews 12 ,Mohd Shami 5 for 19,Siraj 3 for 16)