Finance
Mohammed Shami secured his second five-wicket haul of the 2018 ICC Men’s ODI World Cup, his 5-18 helping India wipe out Sri Lanka for a measly 55 and score one of their largest ODI victories on Thursday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Shami finished with stats of 5-1-18-5, extending his overall score to 45 as he surpassed Zaheer Khan’s tally of 44 in 23 matches to become India’s top wicket-taker in World Cups. Shami, who had earlier in the World Cup claimed 5-54 against New Zealand, hit the milestone in just 14 games.
Shami, who was called up to the playing XI when Hardik Pandya was injured, has 14 wickets in three matches.
Sri Lanka was the last time they met in the final of the 2023 Asia Cup in Colombo, India bowled them out for 50 in 15.2 overs. On Thursday, India bowled them out for 55 in 19.4 to win by 302 runs.
While Shami took 5-18, Mohd Siraj took 3-16 as India threatened to knock out Sri Lanka for the lowest total ever after dropping the 1996 World Cup winners to 22/7 after 12 overs.
Mohammad Siraj claimed 6-21 in the Asia Cup final, but Shami claimed 5-18 on Thursday, leaving the Sri Lankans stunned.
While Bumrah took one wicket, Siraj and Shami each took two in their first overs as Sri Lanka finished the powerplay with a score of 14/6.
Bumrah began the slaughter by trapping Pathum Nissanka lbw with a ball that drifted back in to contact the back pad, gifting the Sri Lankan opener a golden duck.
Siraj followed suit, catching Dimuth Karunaratne lbw for a golden ball duck, the ball going away with the angle and beating the edge to grab the batter below the knee on the wicket. Karunaratne, like Nissanka, reviewed the verdict but was unable to have the on-field umpire’s ruling overturned.
Sadeera Samarawickrama chased a wide one and nicked it to Shreyas Iyer at third slip, giving Saraj his second wicket of the over.
Sri Lanka were four runs down when Siraj castled skipper Kusal Mendis off the first delivery of his second over, as the ball straightened late to beat the edge and smash the top of the off-stump.
In the same way Siraj, Shami too claimed two wickets in his first over.
On the third ball of his opening over, he sends back Charith Asalanka (1), who slashes at a short and wide delivery, giving Ravindra Jadeja a catch at backward point.
When Dushan Hemantha sent a nice length ball outside off and behind to Rahul, he became the third Sri Lankan hitter to suffer a first-ball duck on Thursday.
Shami took his third wicket of the day thanks to DRS, as the ultra edge revealed that Dushmantha Chameera (0) had gloved a delivery falling down leg-side to keeper KL Rahul, reducing the score to seven down for 22 runs.
The Indian pacers certainly bowled brilliantly, leaving the Sri Lankan hitters perplexed. The Sri Lankan batters too did not apply themselves, a couple of them chasing wide deliveries when they should have left them untouched.
Down 22/7 after 12 overs, Sri Lanka appeared to be edging out Zimbabwe (against SL) and the United States (vs Nepal) for the unwelcome record of the lowest all-out total in ODIs, which is 35.
They were 29/8 when Angelo Mathews was out for 12 in the 14th over, and they were on the verge of failing to reach 50.
They did it courtesy to a ninth-wicket stand of Maheesh Theekshana (12 not out) and Kasun Rajitha (14), only the third batter to reach double figures.
Brief scores:
India 357/8 in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 92, Virat Kohli 88, Shreyas Iyer 82, Ravindra Jadeja 35; Madushanka 5-80) beat Sri Lanka 55 all out in 19.4 overs (Kasun Rajitha 14; Mohd Shami 5-18, Siraj 3-16) by 302 runs.
Source:IANS
