PAC(E)-MAN: Pacers carve open Sri Lanka as India enter semis in style

Tribune News Service

Rohit Mahajan

Mumbai, November 2

With surgical precision, India’s paceman carved the heart out of the Sri Lankan batting, and though it put the home team in the semifinals of the World Cup, it was a pretty ugly sight in the end.

In their doomed chase of India’s 357, Sri Lanka lost a wicket first-ball — Jasprit Bumrah trapping Pathum Nissanka lbw — and it soon turned into a nightmare to forget in a night of horror that unfolded in front of a capacity crowd at the Wankhede Stadium.

The Indian pacemen were sensational, the trio of Bumrah (1/8), Mohammed Siraj (3/16) and Mohammed Shami (5/18) ending up with nine wickets for 42 runs in 17 overs. The top-five Sri Lankan batsmen were blown away, with scores of 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, and at 14/5 in the 10th over, the Islanders were well and truly enmeshed in the Indian net. Two more ducks followed, and at 29/8 in the 14th over, the game was up. They managed to touch 50 only due to some fours through the vacant outfield, blows that were akin to the throes of a landed fish. The ninth man down was Kasun Rajitha, removed by Shami, all nine wickets taken by the pace bowlers. Ravindra Jadeja prevented a perfect 10 for the pacers when he removed the No. 11, Dilshan Madushanka, who tried to sweep him and sent the ball high up, only for Shreyas Iyer to get under it to end Sri Lanka’s agony.

The Sri Lankans were poor with the bat, it’s true — they came here after a loss to Afghanistan and had only two points from six games — and their batters had no confidence. It showed in their feet glued to the crease, their bats flailing at balls wide of the stumps, in the indecision over whether to push at the ball or drive. But the quality of India’s bowling was supreme, and some balls were simply unplayable. The first ball of the innings, for instance — Bumrah had bowled it from wide of the crease to angle it in, but it straightened to beat Nissanka’s bat and crash into the pad. Next over, Siraj too got a wicket first-ball — he got one to swing in, beating the left-hander Dimuth Karunaratne’s bat and striking the pad. Swinging and at the wicket, these were very good balls. Then No. 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama played a bad shot, reaching to a ball he could have left alone, edging it to Iyer at third slip, and Sri Lanka were 2/3. Captain Kusal Mendis fell on the same score, to Siraj, and this was an exceptional ball, too — angled in, straightening a bit and hitting off-stump — 3 for 4 in the fourth over, in a chase of 357. The game was up.

India’s massive total had been built by three huge half-centuries that could well have been centuries, but captain Rohit Sharma was not among the runs today. He got a four off the first ball of the innings, but Madushanka got his revenge off the second ball — the ball of the innings! The left-hander angled the ball from over the stumps to Rohit, who played for the inswing — but it was a beautiful off-cutter that beat the outside edge and bent back the off-stump. The crowd went from delirium to mourning in a second.

No. 3 Kohli came in and looked solid, but there were some nervous moments — he was dropped on 10 by Dushmantha Chameera, and Shubman Gill was dropped on 8 at cover by Charith Asalanka. The two capitalised on the lives they got and settled, and batting became easier.

Kohli and Gill added 189 runs for the second wicket, and looked good for his 49th ODI century, but he became Madushanka’s second victim, falling 12 short of his 100; Madushanka got Gill, too, and India lost both with the addition of three runs. Iyer then took over, playing fearlessly as he tried to banish the ghosts of recent failures — and he, too, was denied a 100 by the excellent Madushanka, who ended up with 5/80.

Scoreboard

India

R Sharma b Madushanka 4

S Gill c Mendis b Madushanka 92

V Kohli c Nissanka b Madushanka 88

S Iyer c Theekshana b Madushanka 82

KL Rahul c Hemantha b Chameera 21

S Yadav c Mendis b Madushanka 12

R Jadeja run out (Mendis) 35

M Shami run out (Mendis) 2

J Bumrah not out 1

Extras: (b 5, lb 6, nb 1, w 8) 20

Total: (8 wickets, 50 overs) 357

FOW: 1-4, 2-193, 3-196, 4-256, 5-276, 6-333, 7-355, 8-357

Bowling O M R W

Dilshan Madushanka 10 0 80 5

Dushmantha Chameera 10 2 71 1

Kasun Rajitha 9 0 65 0

Angelo Mathews 3 0 11 0

Maheesh Theekshana 10 0 67 0

Dushan Hemantha 8 0 52 0

Sri Lanka

P Nissanka lbw b Bumrah 0

D Karunaratne lbw b Siraj 0

K Mendis b Siraj 1

S Samarawickrama c Iyer b Siraj 0

C Asalanka c Jadeja b Shami 1

A Mathews b Shami 12

D Hemantha c Rahul b Shami 0

D Chameera c Rahul b Shami 0

M Theekshana not out 12

K Rajitha c Gill b Shami 14

D Madushanka c Iyer b Jadeja 5

Extras: (b 5, lb 1, w 4) 10

Total: (all out, 19.4 overs) 55

FOW: 1-0, 2-2, 3-2, 4-3, 5-14, 6-14, 7-22, 8-29, 9-49

Bowling O M R W

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

Player of the Match: Mohammed Shami

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