Indian Team's Journey in 2019 Cricket World Cup.. Game 9...India Vs SriLanka

So it finally came down to the last league match of the tournament for Men in Blue.6 wins in 8 games & 13 points, Team India was comfortably poised at the no. 2 spot in the table.

The result of the match between India & Srilanka & the other between Australia & South Africa today would decide who will top the points table & the semis lineups.For India this was the opportunity to top the table & to finish the league stage with an impressive7 wins in 9 games (with 1 game vs New Zealand abandoned due to rain & the other lost against England).

Srilanka although out of the tournament with just 3 wins in 8 outings would be expected to play for pride & bidding an appropriate good bye to Lasitha Malinga, who would be donning the national colour for the one last time today.

The two subcontinent teams came out at headingly on a used dry pitch which promised assistance to the spin bowlers. Stroke making would not be easy on this pitch. There would be some assistance for the swing bowlers as well initially as the weather was a bit cloudy off & on as well.

India made two changes in their line-up with Jadeja finally getting a look in, in place of Shami & Kuldeep yadav in place of Chahal.India wanted to test out its bench as well before the semis & rightly so jadeja got his first match of the current WC. (Although I believe Jadeja can walk in any time in any team because of his sheer presence & all-round performance, this call up is a bit late)

Srilanka won the toss & understandably chose to Bat first. Captain Karunaratne 10 (17) opened the Srilankan Innings with Kusal Perera but was sent back when he was caught behind by Dhoni of Bumrah early in the innings.

On the other end Perera got a lucky escape on 9 when he scooped a Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivery behind the bowler only to be dropped by Kuldeep who almost collided with Pandaya in the process. Indian fielding looked a bit flustered today, different from the absolute brilliance all throughout the league phase.

SriLanka 28 for 1 in 5 overs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar today looked a bit off-colour as he sprayed the bowl on both sides of the wicket. His 3 overs gave away 28 runs.On the other side, Bumrah as he was throughout the league phase was given due respect out of his sheer brilliance with the ball did not gave even a single run in his 2 overs initially.

Next In Fernando survived an LBW appeal by Bumrah in the very next over when he was still to score his first run. The Ball appeared to hit his inner thigh pad a bit high.

Perera 18(14) was out caught behind of Bumrah in the 8^th over.

SriLanka 52 for 2 in 10 overs.

After the first 10 over,Virat pressed in Jadeja who immediately cleaned up Kusal Mendis 3(13) getting him stumped by Dhoni.Pitch was now gripping the ball & has started playing tricks.

From the other end Pandaya came in to bowl & he too cleaned up Fernando 20(21) caught by Dhoni.SriLanka now  reeling at 55 for 4 in 12 th over.At this juncture,SL was in dire straits and looked to fall short of even 200 runs in their quota of 50 overs.

But as they say,The real test of great players is when the chips are down & what we witnessed in the next couple of hours was pure grit.

 Mathews 113(128) & Thirimanne 53(68) then combined together and did what is close to a miracle there after. Between them they both contributed 124 runs for the team.

Mathews who was earlier dropped by Bhuvi when on 63 of Jadeja eventually became Bumrah’s 3^rd victim.Kuldeep removed Thirimanne & although was expensive, justified his selection over Chahal by getting a vital wicket at the right time.

SriLanka although lost wickets but maintained a healthy run rate of 5 + all throughout the innings.

For the Indians, Bhuvi gave away 73 runs in his 10 overs for 1 wicket.Bumrah again impressed with figures of 10-2-37-3.

SriLanka eventually managed to put up a fighting 264 runs in their 50 overs.A score to fight for.

Indians came out to chase the total which was a sort of  in-between score were in no time 39 for no loss in 5 overs & then 59 for no loss in 10 overs.

There was virtually no challenge what so ever for the Indian Batsmen .

In no time Indian Openers quickly reached personal milestones-

Rohit reached his record 5 th century of this WC 103(94)

 Rahul too gained immense confidence with a brilliant 1^st WC Century 111(118)

Rahul became the victim of Malinga who was playing his farewell match.

India eventually reached the target with a loss of one more wicket of Pant 4(4) with Kohli 34* & Pandaya 7* making sure there is no further damage to the team.

India made 265 for 3 in 44^th over itself & crossed the finishing line with a 7 wkts win, taking the coveted 1^st position in the points table with 15 points.

Lasitha Malinga was out of sorts today & was very expensive with figures of 10-1-82-1 in the end. Except Thisara Perera ( 10-0-34-0) no SL bowler impressed one bit & in the end the contest was one sided won by India.

MY ANALYSIS-

1.     Ro-HIT Sharma – has no challenge left with anybody in the world, he is in a league of his own in this WC, building & breaking records with the same lazy elegance as his signature effortless strokes. With record 5 centuries in a single WC, Rohit is an absolute delight even to the meanest of the critics. Hope his dream run continues for at least 2 more matches (expecting India to reach the WC Final).

 

2.      Rahul’s century came at a perfect time just before the semis, a welcome sign for team India. It will give him immense confidence for the knock out stage. This Inning of his will hopefully settle the opening worries of the team management if there is any.

3.      Bumrah continued with his dream run with 3 more scalps in this match .He is a force to reckon with in this WC .With most of the teams happy just playing him off cautiously; he enjoys the “lethal weapon” tag for India with aplomb.

4.     Bhuvneshwar Kumar was off colour today but he is too good a bowler not to bounce back in big games where it matters more.

All in all a one sided contest today but nevertheless a win is a win for India & South Africa beating Australia by 10 runs in the other league match ,the Semis set up is clear now with India playing the Kiwis on 9^th followed by Australia vs England on 11^th .

So till we meet again after the semis….

HAPPY READING…