India qualify for semis: Pacers blow away Sri Lanka for 55 after Gill, Kohli, Iyer fifties

MUMBAI: A five-wicket haul by pacer Mohammed Shami after superb half-centuries by Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer helped India thrash Sri Lanka by 302 runs for their seventh win in seven matches, sealing a place in the semifinals with two matches yet to play.

The hosts continued their brilliant all-round display in the World Cup, claiming the fourth-largest win ever by bundling out Sri Lanka for 55 in 19.2 overs after riding on some brilliant batting by Gill (92), Kohli (88) and Iyer (82) to post 357/8 in 50 overs.

India now have 14 points from seven games and are the first team to confirm teir place in the last-four stage in the 2023 Men's ODI World Cup.

Shami claimed his second five-wicket haul of the ongoing World Cup, his 5-18 helping India bundle out Sri Lanka for a paltry 55 at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.

Shami had figures of 5-1-18-5, taking his overall tally to 45 as he became the highest wicket-taker for India in World Cups, getting past Zaheer Khan's tally of 44 in 23 matches. Shami, who had claimed 5-54 against New Zealand earlier in this World Cup, reached the mark in just 14 matches.

Shami, who came into the playing XI after Hardik Pandya was injured, has taken 14 wickets in just three matches so far.

Earlier, Gill and Kohli raised a crucial 189-run partnership for the second wicket after skipper Rohit Sharma was out for four off the second ball of the innings, while Iyer shared two half-century partnerships with KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja lower down the order, setting Sri Lanka a big target to chase.

Kohli and Gill, who was dropped at nine by Madushanka off his bowling in the fifth over, rescued India with a superb partnership, playing cautiously initially but never failing to punish the poor deliveries of which the Sri Lankans bowled quite a few. They struck boundaries at regular intervals as India ended the first Powerplay at 60/1.

However, after the initial period of struggle, the former India captain mostly played in the V, judging the length well and always remaining in control of his shorts. He flicked the ball off his pads when the Sri Lankans strayed down the legside, slog-swept on a couple of occasions and even executed a well-controlled pull shot when the medium pacer dug in short, completing his 70th half-century in the process.

Both Gill and Kohli were out within a space of three runs but India went on to put up a big score thanks to Shreyas Iyer.

Iyer kept the scoring rate up as he struck a few sweetly-timed boundaries and hammered Hemantha straight over his head for a big six and followed it up with a 106-metre monster off Rajitha a couple of overs later in the 36th. The third six in his half-century came off Theekshana, blasting him down the ground, completing his half-century off 36 balls with a four off Theekshana. IANS

: SCOREBOARD :

INDIA:

*Rohit Sharma b Madushanka 4

Shubman Gill c Mendis b Madushanka 92

Virat Kohli c Nissanka b Madushanka 88

Shreyas Iyer c Theekshana b Madushanka 82

KL Rahul c Hemantha b Chameera 21

Suryakumar Yadav c Mendis b Madushanka 12

Ravindra Jadeja not out 35

Mohammed Shami run out (Mendis) 2

Jasprit Bumrah not out 1

Extras: 20; Total: 357-7 (50)

FOW:Sharma (4-1, 0.2), Gill (193-2, 30), Kohli (196-3, 31.3), Rahul (256-4, 39.2), Yadav (276-5, 41.3), Iyer (333-6, 47.3), Shami (355-7, 49.3)

Bowling:

Dilshan Madushanka 10 0 80 5

Dushmantha Chameera 10 2 71 1

Kasun Rajitha 9 0 66 0

Angelo Mathews 3 0 11 0

Maheesh Theekshana 10 0 67 0

Dushan Hemantha 8 0 52 0

SRI LANKA:

Pathum Nissanka lbw b Bumrah 0

Dimuth Karunaratne lbw b Siraj 0

*Kusal Mendis b Siraj 1

S Samarawickrama c Iyer b Siraj 0

Charith Asalanka c Jadeja b Shami 1

Angelo Mathews b Shami 12

Dushan Hemantha c Rahul b Shami 0

Dushmantha Chameera c Rahul b Shami 0

Maheesh Theekshana not out 12

Kasun Rajitha c Gill b Shami 14

Dilshan Madushanka c Iyer b Jadeja 5

Extras: 10; Total: 55-10 (19.4)

FOW:Nissanka (0-1, 0.1), Karunaratne (2-2, 1.1), Samarawickrama (2-3, 1.5), Mendis (3-4, 3.1), Asalanka (14-5, 9.3),Hemantha (14-6, 9.4), Chameera (23-7, 11.3), Mathews (29-8, 13.1), Rajitha (49-9, 18), Madushanka (55-10, 19.4)

Bowling:

Jasprit Bumrah 5 1 8 1

Mohammed Siraj 7 2 16 3

Mohammed Shami 5 1 18 5

Kuldeep Yadav 2 0 3 0

Ravindra Jadeja 0.4 0 4 1

MOM: Mohammed Shami

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