Cricket World Cup: India Storm To Semi-Finals

MUMBAI, (IANS) – 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 has 14 points from seven games and are the first team to confirm their place in the last-four stage in the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup.

All kinds of milestones were recorded too.

Shami became the highest (45) wicket-taker for India in the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Shami took his tally of wickets in the ODI World Cup to 45 after taking his fifth wicket, he surpassed Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath’s 44 wicket records to become the highest wicket-taker.  He has also now four five-fors in ODIs, the most by an Indian. Three of them have come in the World Cups, the joint-most with Mitchell Starc.

Shami also entered the top 10 of the highest wicket takers in ODI World cup history, which is topped by Glenn McGrath with 71. Among active international cricketers, only Mitchell Starc and Trent Boult are above him in the list with 56 and 49 wickets respectively.

Shreyas Iyer became the third fastest Indian batter to complete 2000 runs in One-Day Internationals. Iyer reached the milestone in his 49th innings in the format, behind Shikhar Dhawan, who is the second-fastest Indian to score 2000 runs.

Iyer hammered a 56-ball 82 comprised of three boundaries and six maximums against Sri Lanka to reach the milestone. Shubhman Gill holds the record of fastest batter to 2000 ODI runs.