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Dilshan Madushanka bowls during the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup one-day international (ODI) match against India -
Sri Lanka’s captain Kusal Mendis is clean bowled by India’s Mohammed Siraj
India’s Shreyas Iyer gestures to the spectators as he walks back to the pavilion after scoring 82
Man of the match India’s Mohammed Shami (C) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Kasun Rajitha
MUMBAI: Sri Lanka were once again at the receiving end of India’s world class seam attack as they were skittled out for 55 to lose the Cricket World Cup match by a massive margin of 302 runs at the famous Wankhede Stadium here in Mumbai, Thursday.
On a pitch where India’s batsmen had piled up 357-8, Sri Lanka’s batsmen stumbled for the second game running between the two sides as India’s three-pronged seam attack produced an outrageous spell of fast bowling to have them four down for three runs in the fourth over. By the 20th over Sri Lanka were all out for a score of around fifty for the second time, the first being in the Asia Cup final when they were shot out for 50. Five of the batters failed to trouble the scorers as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj knocked off the top order, before Mohammad Shami took over to put the finishing touches to the innings with a five-wicket haul that won him the Player of the Match award.
One could say that it was a dismal batting display but in the overall context Sri Lanka’s batting lacked maturity against such a high class and experienced bowling line-up that revelled under the lights where the ball swung and seamed much to the discomfort of the batsmen. In hindsight, Kusal Mendis, the captain must be thinking it was a blunder to bowl first because under lights at the Wankhede the ball does seem to do something.
The tone for Sri Lanka’s capitulation was set from the first ball when Bumrah trapped the inform Pathum Nissanka lbw. When Dimuth Karunaratne also fell without scoring to Siraj’s second ball and Sadeera Samarawickrama to his fifth ball of the over, the Sri Lankan batting decline had well and truly begun. There was no redemption for Sri Lanka as wickets continued to tumble, the only fear being whether they would be bowled out for the lowest total in ODIs – 35 by Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka at Harare in 2004, when the eighth wicket fell at 29. But Maheesh Theekshana and Kasun Rajitha saved Sri Lanka that ignominy by indulging in the highest partnership of the innings putting together 20 for the ninth wicket.
Sri Lanka’s only shining light was the bowling performance of left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka who picked up his maiden five-fer in a budding career. Trusted to the position of spearhead of the bowling attack due to injury to Dushmantha Chameera, Madushanka has taken on the responsibility superbly to get the early breakthroughs for his team in the first power play. Yesterday, he captured the wickets of India’s top four batsmen Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer and later added Suryakumar Yadav to his tally of five.
Each time he was brought onto bowl Madushanka struck vital blows denying Gill (92 off 92 balls, 11 fours, 2 sixes), Kohli (88 off 94 balls, 11 fours) and Iyer (82 off 56 balls, 3 fours, 6 sixes) the opportunity of a century, much to the displeasure of the Mumbai crowd who had turned up in their numbers. Madushanka now sits at the top of the bowling list in this World Cup with 18 wickets from seven innings at an average of 22.11.
Sri Lanka had the opportunities of picking up both Gill (at 8) and Kohli (at 10) early in their innings but they let it slip and the result was they had to pay a heavy price for it as the pair put on 189 runs for the second wicket off 179 balls to lay the platform for India’s huge total. With this win India became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals.
