CWC 2019 Flashback – Record-breaker Rohit takes India past Sri Lanka
They say when it rains, it pours. In Rohit Sharma’s case, it was an unstoppable flood of runs that could not be contained. In the purplest patch of his career, the dazzling opening batsman notched up his third consecutive and fifth century of the 2019 World Cup, helping India clinch a comprehensive 7-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Headingley.
Sri Lanka would have loved to bow out of a disappointing World Cup with another win towards the end. But, they were completely outplayed by a clinical India.
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Mathews-Thirimanne rebuild after a flurry of wickets
India went in with a couple of changes, bringing in Ravindra Jadeja for Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav for Yuzvendra Chahal. It was the perfect start for them, despite losing the toss and being asked to bowl first. The Sri Lankan openers couldn’t withstand Jasprit Bumrah’s relentless consistency and departed inside the first powerplay. India fluffed a couple of early chances in the field, but the Lankans were tottering at 55/4 by the 12th over.
Sri Lanka’s crisis man Angelo Mathews (113) walked out yet again to resurrect his team’s fallen fortunes. Alongside Lahiru Thirimanne (53), he absorbed the pressure and slowly started taking the attack to the Indian bowlers. Mathews brought up his 3rd ODI century on the way, which was also his 3rd against India. The duo stitched a fine 100-run partnership, only the second in the tournament for the Lankans. But Kuldeep came back to dismiss Thirimanne and Bumrah picked the key wicket of Mathews. At one point, Sri Lanka were in deep waters but recovered well to post 264/7 in 50 overs. Bumrah finished with figures of 3/37 and also reached the 100-wicket milestone in ODIs.
Sensational Rohit breaks records
Rohit Sharma came to the World Cup on the back of a poor IPL season with the bat but ended up becoming the only player with 5 hundreds in a single World Cup edition. He also equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s records for most hundreds across World Cups with 6 of them. Continuing his swashbuckling form, he gave India a flying start alongside KL Rahul who was playing anchor from the other end. The Sri Lankan bowlers found no luck with the ball as the Indian openers cruised to the highest first-wicket partnership (183) for India in World Cups.
For the third time in the tournament (102 vs ENG, 104 vs BAN, 103 vs SL), Rohit fell immediately after scoring his ton to a soft dismissal by Kasun Rajitha but Rahul (111) went on to get his first century. After having gotten decent starts in the earlier matches, the Karnataka batsman ensured he didn’t waste another opportunity and put up a disciplined batting performance. But a short ball from Lasith Malinga did him in and the Lankan spearhead pocketed his 56th World Cup wicket, going past Pakistan’s Wasim Akram record for most wickets in World Cups. Rishabh Pant walked back for a rare single-digit score, but captain Virat Kohli made sure there were no further dents. He sealed a cakewalk of a chase with 7 wickets to spare.
