India is the only team that hasn’t lost any matches in the 2023 World Cup. They’ve won all seven of their games and are doing really well.
The Indian team did something really amazing on Thursday. They beat Sri Lanka by a huge 302 runs in Mumbai and became the first team to make it to the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup. This was their seventh win in the tournament, and they are the only team that hasn’t lost a game. India showed how good they are by bowling out Sri Lanka for just 55 runs when Sri Lanka was trying to chase a big score of 358. Three Indian bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami, did a fantastic job, just like they did when they defeated Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final in September.
In the final match of the regional tournament, India bowled out the other team, called the islanders, for just 50 runs. Siraj, one of India’s fast bowlers, took six wickets in that game, and it looked like he continued his good form from a previous match in Colombo. In this match, he even got two wickets in his very first over. Right after that, Jasprit Bumrah, another Indian bowler, bowled really well and got a wicket with the very first ball of the game, dismissing a player named Pathum Nissanka.
Siraj and Bumrah troubled the Sri Lankan batters. The cricket pitch in Mumbai was good for batting, but these two bowlers made the ball do tricky things. Siraj, especially, was intimidating, and he had a fierce battle with a player named Charith Asalanka right at the beginning of the game.
Shami, who came in as the first substitute bowler for the Indian team, made things even worse for Sri Lanka. In his very first over, he got rid of both Asalanka and Dushan Hemantha, Sri Lankan players. Shami has been in great form since he returned to the Indian team last week, filling in for the injured Hardik Pandya. He did really well in this match, taking five wickets, which is the third time he’s done it in World Cup history and the second time in this tournament. Siraj also did a good job, taking three wickets for India, but Bumrah only bowled in the first set of overs and got one wicket.
Before that, when India got a turn to bat, they did really well. The Sri Lankan captain, Kusal Mendis, decided that India should bat first. India scored a total of 357 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Three Indian batters, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer, came close to scoring a hundred but missed it by a bit. On the other hand, the only bright spot for Sri Lanka was Dilshan Madushanka, who took five wickets while bowling but couldn’t do much to stop India’s batting.
India has been doing really well in the tournament. They have won all of their first seven matches, including against five-time champions like Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand, England, and now Sri Lanka. With 14 points, India is leading the table. Their next match will be against South Africa, who have also been performing strongly and have only lost one match in the tournament up to now.
