Wankhede capitulation

By Champika Fernando at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai

Demons of the Asia Cup final haunted the atrocious Sri Lankans as they succumbed under terrific seam bowling by hosts India to lose by a massive 302 runs in their seventh World Cup fixture at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday.

Chasing a mammoth 358 to win, Sri Lanka were in all sorts of trouble from the very first ball. Indian’s famed fast-bowling attack of Jasprit Bumrah (1-8), Mohammed Siraj (3-16) and Mohammed Shami (5-18) were on fire, demolishing the hapless Sri Lankans in front of a partisan Indian crowd. 
They were bowled out for 55 runs from just 19.4 overs in the blink of an eye, for the second time in succession by the Indians. In September, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 50 runs at the Asia Cup final before India raced to victory with all ten wickets in hand.

An implosion in the top order saw them crashing to 14 for the loss of six wickets at the end of the first power play with Siraj, Bumrah and Shami ripping apart their batting order.

Bumrah started the carnage with his first ball, trapping the diminutive Pathum Nissanka on the back pad. It was wide off the crease but angled in before hitting the toe-end of the pad. Nissanka reviewed but the tracker returned the umpire's call on clipping the off stump, giving marching orders to the right-hander.

Siraj then joined the party removing Dimuth Karunaratne with his first ball and then Sadeera Samarawickrema with his penultimate ball of the first over as Sri Lanka slumped to 2-3 at the end of the second over.

The procession continued with Siraj’s first ball of the second over ripping through Kusal Mendis's defence to crash into the top of the off-stump, leaving Sri Lanka reeling at 3 for 4 by the fourth over. Angelo Mathews and Charith Asalanka survived for a while but the introduction of Shami in the 10th over of the match added further misery into the Sri Lanka camp, reducing them to 14 for 6 at the end of the first power play.
Shami removed Asalanka who slashed it straight to Ravindra Jadeja at backward point before Dushan Hemantha offered a thick edge through to KL Rahul in the very next ball. It was the lowest powerplay score in a World Cup game.

Dushamantha Chameera gloved a short-of-length ball from Shami to the wicket keeper as Sri Lanka lost their seventh wicket for 22 runs. It then left Mathews to launch a counterattack but the experienced campaigner was castled by an inswinger from Shami—his fourth wicket in the match. He removed Kasun Rajitha edging to Shubman Gill at second slip to complete second five-wicket haul in the tournament. Dilshan Madushanka went for a slog sweep and top edged straight up in the air as Sheyar Iyre completed an easy take to send Sri Lanka crashing to a heavy defeat.
The defeat was a major humiliation and demands an explanation from the team's think tank, that includes highly paid foreign staff, a consultant coach in Mahela Jayawardena and the selection committee who have failed to lift the standard of the team.

Earlier Kusal Mendis’s decision to field first played into India’s hand as they put on a massive total of 357 for 8 on the back of three half-centuries from Shubman Gill (92), Virat Kohli (88) and Shreyas Irye (82) despite Sri Lankan seamer Dilshan Madushanka claiming his maiden five-wicket haul to become the highest wicket-taker in the tournament. He has 18 wickets in seven games.

The 23-year-old seamer stunned the Wankhede crowd into silence with a terrific delivery to remove Indian skipper Rohit Sharma in the second ball of the innings but a strong second wicket stand between Gill and Kohli set the tone for India’s mammoth total, after being put into bat first.
Sharma had clipped the first ball to the fine-leg boundary and was looking for the inswinger but an off-cutter nipped away with the angle, crashing to the off-stump to give marching orders to the Indian skipper.

Both Madushanka and Dushmantha Chameera generated plenty of movement off the deck to keep both Gill and Kohli in check as the hosts managed only 25 runs in the first five overs for the loss of Sharma’s wicket. India would have been two down, had Charith Asalanka at cover point grabbed a flying catch off Gill in the penultimate ball of Madushanka’s third over, but the ball burst through the hand to offer another life to Gill.

Two balls later, Chameera nearly caught Kohli off his own bowling when the batsman got a leading edge, but the ball popped out of Chameera’s hand. Chameera operated with a perfect line and length and his first two overs conceded no run.

But once the pitch settled, scoring looked easy as Gill and Kohli capitalised on those opportunities to stitch a massive second wicket stand and put hosts, who are eyeing their third World Cup title, in control. The partnership grew in stature at a steady pace and was threatening to take the game completely away from the Sri Lankans when Madushanka struck twice with his third spell.

With both players in sight of their centuries, Madushanka sent Gill and Kohli back to the dressing room as Sri Lanka shed a sigh of relief. The two had scored 189 runs for the second wicket when Madushanka with a slow off-cutter in his third spell deceived Gill.

Gill, who was just eight runs short of the century, attempted to guide the ball to deep-third-man area but the extra bounce saw him manage to channel it to the wicket-keeper.  Gill’s run-a-ball innings included 11 boundaries and two sixes—one over mid-wicket and the other over long-on.

The 23-year-old seamer then deceived the big fish, Kolhi, with another slower ball sending the vociferous Wankhede crowd into silence. Kohli was early into the drive and offered a simple catch to Pathum Nissanka at short-cover as Madushanka finished his third spell of two overs with two wickets for 12 runs. Kohli hit 88 off 94 balls with 11 boundaries.
KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer then added a quick 60 runs off 47 balls between them before Chameera removed KL Rahul, caught by Dushan Hemantha, at short extra-cover. Madushanka, who is enjoying a remarkable success with the ball in the World Cup, then removed Suryakumar Yadav to grab his fourth wicket. Yadav looked to hook a short ball from Madushanka but did not make a connection as it passed to the wicket-keeper. The umpire was unmoved but Mendis reviewed to find a slight spike on ultra edge.

Despite losing Rahul and Yadav quickly, Iyre continued the onslaught, hitting his 16th ODI half century.  The left-hander hit 82 off 56 balls with six sixes and three boundaries before Madushanka claimed his first five-wicket haul. Irye was running riot, hitting Madushanka for two consecutive sixes when a slow ball did the trick as Iyre sliced it straight up in the air for Maheesh Theekshana to grab a straightforward chance.

Ravindra Jadeja made a brisk 35 off 23 balls before he ran himself out in the last ball of their innings. Sri Lanka made one change to the playing XI with Dushan Hemantha coming in for misfiring Dhananjaya de Silva.