Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium witnessed today (2 November), among other things, India officially entering the semi-final of the 2023 ICC World Cup – not my knocking at the door with a whimper, but by bringing the door down with a bang. As for the ‘other things’, Mohammed Shami picked up his fourth five-wicket haul in ODI, and India recorded their best-ever bowling performance in a World Cup match, bowling 2011’s runners-up Sri Lanka out for 55.
After being asked to bat first, India’s start was uncharacteristic to what they have been doing in this competition, as skipper Rohit Sharma – who has been leading by example with his aggressive batting in the powerplay – could not last more than a couple of deliveries, losing his wicket to Dilshan Madushanka.
Albeit, former skipper Virat Kohli stepped up, and alongside Shubman Gill, stitched a game-defining second-wicket partnership of 189 runs. The former came close to equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries but had his innings halted at 88, with the legend being in attendance, while the latter, touted as the one who will take the baton from Kohli following his eventual retirement, scoring 92 runs.
After their dismissals, Shreyas Iyer effectively utilised the solid foundation that was laid down to make a case for his place in the team, scoring 82 runs in only 65 deliveries to power India to a total of 357/8.
Smokin’ Hot Shami & Siraj
As it turned out, India would have been on the victorious side even if they had scored only 57 instead of 357, for all that the eleven batters of Sri Lanka could manage was a mere 55.
The procession of wickets, which was a spectacular one at that, started in the very first delivery when Jasprit Bumrah trapped Pathum Nissanka leg before wicket.
By the next over, the Sri Lankan fans might have had déjà vu of the Asia Cup final, for Mohammed Siraj was seen at his best again, getting the wickets of Dimuth Karunaratne and Sadeera Samarawickrama in the same over.
His second over saw him breaking – quite literally – the stumps of Kusal Mendis.
Watching the carnage from a distance, Mohammed Shami then decided to act on his FOMO by becoming a late protagonist of the party. In his first over, he did a Siraj by taking two wickets, with Charith Asalanka and Dushan Hemantha being the victims.
Dushmantha Chameera, Angelo Mathews and Kasun Rajitha added their names on the list to complete Shami’s fifer, but courtesy of Dilshan Madushanka’s contribution of five runs, Sri Lanka crossed their 50-run total from the Asia Cup final.
With a 302-run victory, India became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals.
This marked India’s best-ever bowling performance in a World Cup game, with the previous being the 2015 show in Perth, where Ravichandran Ashwin had starred in bowling the United Arab Emirates out for only 102 runs.
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