India v Sri Lanka: Cricket World Cup 2023 – live | Cricket World Cup 2023
Key events
5th over: Sri Lanka 7-4 (Asalanka 0, Matthews 4), target 358. Bumrah serves up another maiden, with his probing length and line, and movement off the seam and in the warm evening air. Asalanka can only play out six dots and be grateful for them. I think Sri Lanka are a tad behind the rate here.
4th over: Sri Lanka 7-4 (Asalanka 0, Matthews 4), target 358. The mayhem continues as Siraj picks up his third with a beauty to bowl the Sri Lanka captain. This is as good and penetrative new-ball seam bowling as you will ever see with a white cricket ball. The man we’re contractually obliged to preface with “wily old campaigner”, Angelo Mathews, is now in – and what a lot of wilyness Sri Lanka need. He plays out four threatening dots before a nicely timed clip through midwicket BRINGS A FOUR. Siraj’s figures are 2-1-3-4 – and he’s someone who’s by no means a guaranteed starter in this team.
Has anyone got a quick WinViz update on Sri Lanka’s chances?
Wicket! Mendis b Siraj 1, Sri Lanka 3-4!
This is getting ridiculous. Siraj castles Mendis without an absolute beauty, not dissimilar to the one Madushanka got Rohit with earlier, banged in, nipping away, knocking back off stump.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 3-3 (Mendis 1, Asalanka 0), target 358.Bumrah’s threat is constant, and he almost induces Mendis to play on with a quicker delivery. Then he pins him on the pads, his appeal is turned down, a cocksure India review. It’s slanted in at him and is going down leg. But it was one of those that looked worth a shout in real time. Then Mendis finally gets off the mark with a flick towards fine leg.
Hard to think about anything else amid this hubbub but Jeremy Boyce has some more thoughts about the State Of Things:
“Thinking about your point about the non-levelling up of international cricket, let’s look back at the 2003 OD World Cup. 14 teams were present, as opposed to the 10 this time, so it’s obviously harder for the tier 2 teams to make a mark if they’re not actually playing. The big change has been the emergence of Afghanistan, replacing Zimbabwe at the top table. But hats off to the Cloggies/Dutch, who are there this time as part of the top table, whereas they were only part of the 4 ‘extras’ in 2003.
Cricket is in a similar situation to rugby, there are plenty of decent teams knocking at the door, but the big teams don’t want to let them in, the schedules are already too crowded. But the best way for smaller nation teams to progress is more regular games v the top table mob, not just the odd match here and there, and a WC every four years….look at the analysis and comments about England not having a settled team, that they all used to know each other inside out and therefore the wheels turned more efficiently, but not this time. This suggests it is not so much about a superstar in every team, more that it’s a proper ‘team’ game with everybody understanding and fulfilling their role.”
2nd over: Sri Lanka 2-3 (Mendis 0, Asalanka 0), target 358. How many times in ODIs have both opening batters been out first ball? Well it’s happened jere as Karunaratne is pinned lbw. He’s almost on a hat-trick too, as Samarawickrama is given out first ball, wafting outside off and the on-field umpire giving it out. But the review showed no contact with the bat. But Siraj is not to be denied, and gets his man fourth-ball instead.
Wicket! Samaawickrama c Iyer b Siraj 0, Sri Lanka 2-3
Carnage! Samarawickrama, having survived a review first bnall, goes fourth ball, hacking to the extra slip.
Wicket! Karunaratne lbw b Siraj 0, Sri Lanka 2-2
Is another opener out first ball? He is. Siraj brings one in to the left-handed Karunaratne, hits him on the right pad. The batter reviews but it’s to no avail – this, too, is rapping middle.
1st over: Sri Lanka 2-1 (Karunaratne 0, Mendis 0). We are privileged to be living in Jasprit Bumrah’s time. Pandemonium as Bumrah snares Nissanka with the first ball of the innings – it’s a brilliant away-nipper that is slanted in and holds its line. Then he greets the new man, the captain Mendis, with a wide-ish one down the legside that’s brilliantly taken by Rahul behind the stumps. The next one is similar before another absolute jaffa is seamed past his outside edge. Then Bumrah nearly strikes again as his slower ball prompts Mendis to offer a caught and bowled chance that just pops over the bowler’s head. Just a brilliant opening over.
“358 is not a daunting score to chase,” scoffs V Krishanmoorthy. “It starts looking like one when you see the human catapult aka Bumrah runs in…….” In other words, it is a daunting score. None more daunting.
Wicket! Nissanka lbw b Bumrah 0
Is Nissanka out first ball here? He is! Nissanka is struck on the right knee roll, the finger goes up straight away, and review confirms it was hitting the top of middle. A sensational start from a sensational bowler and one of Sri Lanka’s too-few form men is gone.
The players are on their way back out …
Stat-gasm dept: Here’s a thing: In the first 12 World Cups, from 1975-2019, there were seven instances of a captain from a Test-playing nation fielding first and conceding 350+. Today is the seventh time it has happened in this tournament alone.
Just wondering how this dovetails with the fact that this has been the most day/night-heavy World Cup I can recall. Very few games have been played entirely in daylight.
Here’s another top stat courtesy of India’s most devout:
Highest ODI total by India without a 💯
3️⃣5️⃣7️⃣/8️⃣ vs SL – Mumbai, 2023*
3️⃣5️⃣1️⃣/5️⃣ vs WI – Tauroba, 2023#INDvSL #CWC23— The Bharat Army (@thebharatarmy) November 2, 2023
Talking of 1995-2005, Sky is showing a Sachin Tendulkar retrospective, albeit reminding us too of how horribly India choked in the 2003 final. Sachin’s innings against Pakistan in that tournament was quite the thing of majesty.
Cheers, as ever, Rob, and thanks for the compliment (though could do with an Andy Bichel figure at the other end, which is where you, the OBO faithful, come in). But riffing on a figure from the turn of the millennium enables me to crank out my old pub-bore theory that 1995-2005 was the golden age of international cricket. Every team had an all-time great during this period, standards rose and the gap between sides narrowed.
Perhaps no one embodied this more than Sri Lanka, who are one of a number of sides who’ve underperformed in this World Cup (see also Pakistan, Bangladesh and of course England). Perhaps this is all just a reflection of the uncertain status of 50-over cricket at the moment. Anyway, it looks as if India are swaggering towards a seventh straight win and Sri Lanka need to show some consistent batting than they did bowling (some of which was excellent but not plentiful enough to exert pressure).
Still, their only two wins have come when chasing and perhaps they’ll click. So stick around, send thoughts, random stuff about music, whatever (though you’ll get no Pink Floyd blether from me, a pop-crazed youngster who balks at songs longer than five minutes max, unless it’s Rappers’ Delight or something).
That’s all from me. Tom Davies, the Michael Bevan of the Guardian sports desk, is ready to talk you through Sri Lanka’s historic runchase/predictable collapse. You can email him here.
Thanks for your company. See you for New Zealand v Pakistan on Saturday: 4.30am UK time, don’t be late.
Talking of which, here’s Shreyas Iyer’s verdict
It was a pretty good pitch to bat on. Our openers and Virat steadied the ship so that we could come out and really express ourselves. That (second-wicket) partnership was of paramount importance. We got a message that the ball was holding a bit, especially the slower ones, so we had to look for that delivery rather than premeditating shots.
That’s another tale of what might have beem for Sri Lanka. Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli punished them for early dropped catches, and the fielding was scruffy throughout. The bowling held up pretty well in the face of a ferocious assault, with Dilshan Madushanka hoodwinking five of India’s celebrated top six.
India will be happy with that total on an occasionally awkward pitch, and even happier that the two batters most in need of runs got them. Shubman Gill stroked a run-a-ball 92 before Shreyas Iyer spanked six sixes in a 56-ball 82.
Sri Lanka need 358 to win
50th over: India 357-8 (Jadeja run out 35) Ravindra Jadeja is run out off the final ball of the innings. Rajitha has had a tough day but he used his variations beautifully to keep India to just five from the last over.
WICKET! India 355-7 (Shami run out 2)
Mohammed Shami tries to get Jadeja on strike and is run out by the keeper. Three balls remaining.
49th over: India 352-6 (Jadeja 31, Shami 2) Jadeja hurries India past 350, smoking Chameera over long-on for six. He is (very) quietly having an excellent tournament with the bat: average 79, strike rate 101. He’s the No7 for all occasions, from nervy runchases to festivals of death-hitting.
48th over: India 339-6 (Jadeja 19, Shami 1) Madushanka ends with peculiar figures of 10-0-80-5. It’s the most expensive five-for in World Cup history, and the second most expensive overall. But this is no Patterson Thompson tribute: he bowled superbly, with intensity, skill and intelligence. Without him India would probably have made 400.
WICKET! India 333-6 (Shreyas Iyer c Theekshana b Madushanka 82)
Shreyas Iyer could yet make a century here. He picks Madushanka’s slower short ball and mullers it into the crowd at midwicket. Another mighty straight six makes it consecutive sixes and takes him into the eighties with 16 balls still remaining.
Madushanka is doing the death bowler’s hokey cokey: over the wicket, then around, then back over. But it pays off in the end. A very wide slower ball is sliced miles in the air by Shreyas Iyer, and Theekshana steadies himself in the covers to take the catch.
Shreyas goes for a confidence-boosting 82 from 56 balls, with six sixes, and the outstanding Madushanka has a five-for. He looks like the real deal.
47th over: India 320-5 (Iyer 70, Jadeja 14) Iyer reacts beautifully to glide a full toss from Chameera between backward point and short third man for four.
Sri Lanka’s poor fielding performance continues with a needless overthrow. A selection of ones and twos make it 11 from the over. India’s running has been very good all day; Jadeja is going at a run a ball yet he hasn’t hit a boundary.
46th over: India 309-5 (Iyer 61, Jadeja 12) A boundaryless over from Rajitha. That’s all Sri Lanka can ask for at this stage, I guess. But it feels like India already have more than enough.
45th over: India 304-5 (Iyer 59, Jadeja 10) A quicker yorker from Theekshana goes through Mendis’s legs for four byes. Shreyas waves his bat to suggest he got a touch, but the umpire is not for turning. Replays aren’t conclusive, though my hunch is he did nick it.
Theekshana ends a hard afternoon’s work with figures of 10-0-67-0.
44th over: India 295-5 (Iyer 56, Jadeja 8) A single off Madushanka make this Shreyas Iyer’s highest score of the World Cup. All India need now is a Mohammed Siraj five-for and they’ll have everyone in form.
43rd over: India 288-5 (Iyer 53, Jadeja 5) Shreyas slices Theekshana past slip for four to reach an important fifty – for him more than the team. Given his relatively modest form this has been an impressively dominant innings: 36 balls, two fours and four sixes, including the biggest six of the tournament.
42nd over: India 279-5 (Iyer 46, Jadeja 3) Madushanka is so impressive with both the new ball and old. He got a bit carried away this morning after castling Rohit Sharma with a jaffa, but his last two spells have been exemplary. Overall he has figures of 8-0-54-4.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 276-5 (Suryakumar c Mendis b Madushanka 12)
Dilshan Madushanka is now the World Cup’s leading wicket-taker with 17. Suryakumar was cramped for room by a bouncer from round the wicket that brushed the glove on its way through to Mendis. Paul Reiffel said not out but Mendis was so confident that he reviewed and celebrated at the same time. There was a slight spike on UltraEdge as the ball passed the glove, so Suryakumar goes for a nine-ball 12.
41st over: India 274-4 (Iyer 45, Suryakumar 11) That’s 72 unforced errors four sixes for Shreyas Iyer. This is another biggie, 89 metres back over Theekshana’s head. He’s closing in on his highest score of the tournament, the unbeaten 53 against Pakistan.
40th over: India 264-4 (Iyer 38, Suryakumar 8) Suryakumar drives the next ball whence it came for four, because he can. He’s the last person you want to bowl to with 10 overs remaining on a hot day and the score already past 250.
Suryakumar is not out! Nothing on UltraEdge, as you were.
39.5 overs: India 260-4 (Iyer 38, Suryakumar 4) Sri Lanka review for caught behind when Suryakumar has a waft at Chameera. He seems quite relaxed about it all. We’ll soon find out whether he nicked it.
WICKET! India 256-4 (Rahul c Hemantha b Chameera 21)
Gottim! That’s a deserved wicket for Chameera, who has had no luck today. KL Rahul checked a drive straight to extra cover and walked off shaking his head. Kohli was out in similar fashion, which suggests a pitch that isn’t entirely trustworthy.
39th over: India 255-3 (Iyer 37, Rahul 21) I don’t know whether the match situation has liberated Shreyas, because he has played aggressively for most of the tournament, but maybe it has relaxed him. He tries a scoop off Theekshana, though he doesn’t time it and gets two runs rather than four. Another decent over from Theekshana – seven from it, but no boundaries.
38th over: India 247-3 (Iyer 32, Rahul 19) Shreyas edges Chameera just wide of the diving Mendis for four. A single brings up the fifty partnership in 38 balls – and that was after a slow start.
37th over: India 240-3 (Iyer 27, Rahul 17) Theekshana restores a bit of order with five successive dot balls to Shreyas Iyer.
36th over: India 239-3 (Iyer 27, Rahul 16) Shreyas and KL Rahul took a couple of overs to get used to the pitch, and now they’re going ballistic. After Rahul clips Rajitha for four, Shreyas pummels the biggest six of the tournament: 106 metres, straight over long-on. Wow. India have hit 36 off the last three overs.
The performances of Dilshan Madushanka and Rachin Ravindra in this tournament have got me thinking of memorable World Cup debuts from relatively unknown players. What’s your favourite? The first person who comes to mind is a batsman whose tournament average was just 22.50 – but look what Inzamam-ul-Haq did in the semi-finals and final. That innings against New Zealand was eye-widening in its nerveless brilliance.
35th over: India 225-3 (Iyer 20, Rahul 10) A firm sweep from Rahul is superbly stopped by the diving Chameera at short fine leg. That saved three runs.
Well, in theory it saved three runs. Trouble is, the single brought Shreyas Iyer on strike and he belaboured the next ball back over Hematha’s head for a 95-metre six. I think the ball has been lost.
34th over: India 214-3 (Iyer 12, Rahul 7) Madushanka is taken out of the attack, a strange and defensive move given he had taken two wickets in the last seven balls.
His replacement, Rajitha, gives India a jumpstart with a poor over that costs 13. KL Rahul cuts for four and then Shreyas Iyer drives magnificently over mid-off for six.
33rd over: India 201-3 (Iyer 4, Rahul 2) Shreyas pushes a single off Hemantha to bring up the 200. There are a few signs that the pitch is getting tired, and it certainly doesn’t look easy to go hard straight away against the old ball.
32nd over: India 199-3 (Iyer 3, Rahul 1) Whatever state they are in, Sri Lanka will always produce original bowlers who quicken the pulse and capture the imagination. Dilshan Madushanka’s list of wickets at this World Cup includes Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Babar Azam, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Bas de Leede, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. For a 23-year-old in a struggling team, that’s almost hall-of-fame stuff.
WICKET! India 196-3 (Kohli c Nissanka b Madushanka 88)
Virat Kohli will have to save his record-equalling century for the knockout stages: Dilshan Madushanka has done him with a lovely slower ball from round the wicket. Kohli, on 88, pushed tenatively and looped a simple catch to extra cover.
This is an outsanding middle-overs spell from Madushanka, who is now the joint leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 16. He looks a serious prospect.
31st over: India 195-2 (Kohli 88, Iyer 1) Sachin Tendulkar made 49 ODI hundreds in 452 innings. This is Kohli’s 276th. Different times, I know, but that’s a remarkable statistic.
He has slowed down slightly, with just six runs from the last 14 balls, and with Shreyas Iyer new to the crease there are just two runs from Hemantha’s over.
30th over: India 193-2 (Kohli 87, Iyer 0) That was the last ball of the over.
WICKET! India 193-2 (Gill c Mendis b Madushanka 92)
Shubman Gill falls eight runs short of his first World Cup hundred. He was duped by a slower bouncer from Madushanka and feathered it through to Mendis. Gill was trying to uppercut it over the keeper but there just wasn’t enough pace on the ball. It’s the end of a charming innings: 92 from 92 balls with 11 fours and two sixes.
29th over: India 185-1 (Gill 86, Kohli 86) Gill charges the new bowler Hemantha and beasts another six, straight into the sightscreen. This is the Shubman Gill we were promised in the World Cup brochure. He gets four more with the aid of a grubby misfield at point. Sri Lanka look done, and they’ve got another 21 overs of this to endure.
28th over: India 172-1 (Gill 75, Kohli 84) This result won’t mathematically eliminate Sri Lanka, though like England they would need snookers and a sighting of Halley’s comet to reach the last four. England can still qualify, which is beyond absurd.
Just as I was about to type that the boundaries have dried up a touch, Gill muscles a short ball from Chameera into the crowd at midwicket. That’s the first six of the match to go with 21 mostly pristine fours.
27th over: India 164-1 (Gill 68, Kohli 83) Kohli is closing in on his 49th ODI hundred, which would equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record. Imagine if No50 comes in a successful World Cup final runchase. He’s written plenty of scripts in the past 15 years but that would top the lot.
“With Kohli and Gill in imperious form,” writes Krishnamoorthy V, “you can stop this OBO and start playing Comfortably Numb – a track that describes Sri Lanka’s state of mind right now.”
The live version, right?
26th over: India 162-1 (Gill 67, Kohli 82) Chameera strays onto the pads of Kohli and is flicked majestically past mid-on for four. The fielding wasn’t great but it was such a classy stroke. I can’t remember the last time a quality attack bowled so many deliveries on leg stump as Sri Lanka today.
Nissanka denies Kohli another boundary with a terrific sprawling stop at deep extra cover – but then his throw is fumbled by the bowler and India take an overthrow. Like England in this heat a couple of weeks ago, Sri Lanka look ready to unravel.
25th over: India 151-1 (Gill 65, Kohli 73) Theekshana is usually so positive and purposeful with the ball. Today he looks flat, almost subservient, and two very poor deliveries are cut for four by Kohli and Gill. India are heading for a huge total.
24th over: India 140-1 (Gill 60, Kohli 67) Dushmantha Chameera returns to the attack. He bowled beautifully with the new ball but then injured his shoulder while trying to catch Virat Kohli.
The shoulder seems okay and he concedes four singles. It feels like every over is being milked for four or five singles at the moment.
At the end of the over there’s an unscheduled drinks break. It looks really hot out there, so much so that Kohli is batting in a cap at every opportunity.
23rd over: India 136-1 (Gill 58, Kohli 65) Theekshana replaces Hemantha, whose four overs were milked for 24. This is a relatively quiet spell, with only three boundaries in the last seven overs, and Theekshana gets away with conceding four singles.
22nd over: India 132-1 (Gill 56, Kohli 63) Kohli is giving a masterclass in how to play in the V. He times another on-drive for four, this time off Rajitha, which moves him into the serene sixties. He is playing phenomenally well, although the heat does seem to be affecting him.
