India rounded off their sixth win in a row in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 by easily beating Sri Lanka at the Wankhede on Thursday. Batting first, the Indians put up a massive total on the board.
They scored 357-8 thanks to half-centuries from Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. All three looked set to score centuries, but they fell close to the hallowed mark. The Lankan bowlers looked listless as they were carted all around the Wankhede with very little room for error or improvement.
Sri Lanka could have fared better when they walked out to bat later in the day. The Indian fast-bowling trio of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah veritably blew them away. It was a great embarrassment for the Lankans as they got all out for 55.
A similar result had taken place in the final of the Asia Cup played between these two teams earlier in the year. Batting first, Lanka were bundled out for 50 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in September. Mohammed Siraj was the hero for India back then, with six wickets.
There are a lot of takeaways for both teams here, although Sri Lanka appears to be the one suffering the most. Poor shot selection and decision-making hurt them the most and forced them to go on the back foot from ball one.
As for India, they ticked all the boxes in all three departments of the game: batting, bowling and fielding. Although local boys Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav failed to entertain the crowd, India had enough ammo in their batting unit to rout Sri Lanka on Thursday.