World Cup 2023: Indian bowlers wreak havoc against Sri Lanka in the 33rd match of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023: In the 33rd match of the World Cup 2023, India faced Sri Lanka at Wankhede ground, after winning the toss Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis chose to field first.
As Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami tore apart Sri Lanka in an exemplary performance in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, it was one of the greatest displays of white-ball seam bowling.
The first one was Bumrah.
In defense of India’s 357/8, Bumrah set the tone right from the start of the second innings, as he often does. His opening delivery was the perfect ball for any opener; fast, swinging, and arrowing towards those pads.
Most batsmen in the tournament would have struggled against such deliveries, and Pathum Nissanka was the same. Dominance of Mohammed Siraj.
The pressure was beginning to build on the 29-year-old; If Hardik Pandya recovers from injury, will he be the player to make a place for him?
But Siraj found Top Gear at just the right time to put those questions to rest, even if only temporarily. And it was Dimuth Karunaratne who was shown the way to the pavilion on the first inswinger ball.
And four balls later he was in the same position again, going a little wide of the crease and trapping Sadeera Samarawickrama with a silly dart which he could only parry back.
Siraj was back among the wickets at the start of his second over, with arguably the match delivery angled to take Kusal Mendis’s off stump and straightened late on.
The quality of the opening pair was such that for a while it looked as if India would not even need to use their change bowlers, as Sri Lanka was falling to 4/7 and facing a wicket threat with almost every ball.
Mohammed Shami’s attack.
A look at Shami’s World Cup statistics, and the fact that he is the third choice with the new ball, shows that the quality of this Indian bowling attack is truly exceptional.
Shami has taken 14 wickets for just 94 runs in his three matches in the tournament. This average is 6.71. The next best average in the tournament – that of his teammate Bumrah – is more than double that (14.60).
Shami was ruthless, ending any hopes Sri Lanka had of restoring glory. First went Charith Asalanka, then Dushan Hemantha, before Dushmantha Chameera, Angelo Mathews and Kusan Rajitha gave five wickets to Shami.
Indian spinner’s support against Sri Lanka.
India barely needed their tweakers, but the fast bowlers fielded fast bowlers Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja as they won the game.
Kuldeep gave away just three runs in his two overs, while Jadeja needed just four balls to wrap up the innings, with Dilshan Madushanka taking the catch while top-edging in the deep.
Sri Lanka was all out for 55 in what was criticized as the best performance of fast bowling in the tournament so far. And it could have been worse, with number nine Mahesh Theekshana (12*) and Kasun Rajitha (14) accounting for almost half of those runs.
Indian Cricket Team Skipper Rohit Sharma said: “It was a good challenge for us to bat and put runs on the board,” “That’s the kind of template you’ve got to have when you want to score that many runs – 350 on any pitch is a very good score.
“A lot of credit to the batting unit for taking us to that total, and then seamers, obviously…” he finished with a smile and a shrug.
“Siraj obviously, again a quality bowler for us. If he does that, things look quite different for us. With the new ball he can swing the ball, get it to come back in, he’s got a lot of skills when he’s operating with the new ball.
“I know when things are going your way it’s pretty pleasing to see. To put in a performance like that back-to-back, one against England and one now, shows the quality of the seamers.
“Obviously if there is something in the conditions they have so much skill, with the seam upright, swinging the ball, so all-in-all it was very pleasing to watch and I hope they continue to do that way.”
ICC World Cup 2023 Points Table:
| Rank | Team | Matches | Won | Loss | N/R | Points | NRR |
| 1 | India | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | +2.102 |
| 2 | South Africa | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 12 | +2.086 |
| 3 | Australia | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | +0.970 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 | +0.759 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6 | -0.024 |
| 6 | Afghanistan | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -0.718 |
| 7 | Sri Lanka | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | -1.162 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | -1.277 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | -1.446 |
| 10 | England | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | -1.652 |
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