World Cup: India in semis with 302-run Lanka rout

Rohit Mahajan

Mumbai, November 2

India’s seventh consecutive victory guaranteed the team a spot in the semifinals of the World Cup, but the contest was the sort of farcical mismatches that leave the partisans elated and the purists disappointed.

The pitch was, in the words of Shreyas Iyer, playing beautifully, and India racked up a staggering 357/8 on it. But the Sri Lankans, seemingly batting on quite another surface, were fearful and tentative, and their worst nightmares seemed to have come alive in the pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah — the three picked up nine wickets for 42 runs. The Sri Lankan top-5 aggregated two runs and the team folded up for 55 in 19.4 overs. Sri Lanka exhausted their best for the day with the second ball of the first innings, when Dilshan Madushanka bowled skipper Rohit Sharma with a beautiful off-cutter that took Rohit’s off-stump. Sri Lanka’s performance nosedived from there, with Shubman Gill (92), Virat Kohli (88) and Shreyas Iyer (82) capitalising on dropped catches or sloppy fielding to take India to a huge total.

Bumrah then got Pathum Nissanka lbw with the first ball, and the procession of the batsmen began; five of them falling without scoring, and they managed to cross 40 only because the field was up.

Next up South Africa, who should give India their toughest fight so far, in Kolkata.