In less than a year after losing a one-day cricket match to India by a massive 317 runs, Sri Lanka displayed another miserable performance against host India in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup. Chasing a target of 358 runs, the Sri Lankan team wound up its innings in just 55 runs in 19 overs. India won the match by 302 runs, continuing its unbeaten winning spree in the tournament.
Sri Lanka had won the toss and captain Kusal Mendis opted to field first, saying that the pitch will be better for batting in the second innings. India skipper Rohit Sharma was happy, as he said that he would have batted first had he won the toss, adding that the pitch is good to bat on first. Indian team scored 357 for 8 after 50 overs.
While Rohit Sharma was out early, other batsmen of the team prevented any more upset, with Subham Gill and Virat Kohli putting runs on the scoreboard. Gill was out after scoring 92, who was soon joined by Kohli after scoring 88. However, Shreyas Iyer continued India’s scoring spree, with important contributions by KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja. The Indian team ended its innings after scoring 357 in 50 overs, giving a target of 358 runs to Sri Lanka.
However, the Sri Lankan team started to collapse immediately after starting its innings, with Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj leading the Indian attack. The first Sri Lankan wicket was taken by Jasprit Bumrah after opener Pathun Nissanka was declared LBW for duck, and it opened the floodgate for the return of Sri Lankan batsmen to the pavilion.
Siraj and Shami took wickets in quick successions, and the Sri Lankan top order was out in just 10 overs, scoring just 14 runs. After that, it was just a question of how big the winning margin will be. Indian bowlers moved quickly to wrap up the Sri Lankan innings in less than 20 overs.
Mohammed Shami took 5 wickets by spending 18 runs in 5 overs, while Siraj took 3 wickets for 16 runs in 7 overs. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja took one wicket each to finish the Sri Lankan batting line up.
On 15 January this year, Sri Lanka lost to India by a massive 317 runs to India, after it was all out in 73 after India set a target of 391. This is the highest margin in one day cricket matches. Today’s margin of 302 places the match in the 4th spot in the list of largest margins.
