Leeds: Cometh the hour, cometh the man. And when it is India against Sri Lanka, only one man dominates the headlines. On Saturday, it was no different at the Headingley Cricket Ground as Rohit Sharma hit a crisp 103 to help India thrash Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their final group game of the World Cup to finish with 15 points from 9 games.
If Australia lose to South Africa later in the day, Virat Kohli & Co will top the points tally and take on New Zealand the first semifinal in Manchester on Tuesday.
Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah added another feather to his cap by becoming the second fastest Indian to take 100 wickets in One-Day Internationals when he dismissed Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne here Saturday.
The 25-year-old, who is the top ranked ODI bowler in the ICC charts took 57 innings to achieve the feat, one more than teammate Mohammad Shami.
However, it was all about Rohit ‘silken’ Sharma at Headingley as he hit the drives, flicks, cuts and pulls with equal elan to register his fifth hundred of the ongoing World Cup — the most by any batsman in a single edition — bettering the record set by former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara in the 2015 World Cup.
Rohit now has six hundreds in the showpiece event and is sitting atop the list of most hundreds in World Cups with Sachin Tendulkar. The master blaster also has six World Cup hundreds.Back to the chase, it was important to start well as India were chasing 265 for victory. And it couldn’t have been better as both Rohit and K.L. Rahul looked in terrific flow from the word go. By the time Kasun Rajitha dismissed Rohit in the 31st over, the game was already in the bag for India. It was only poetic justice that Rahul too scored his maiden World Cup century after playing perfect second fiddle to Rohit. But a quality short ball from Lasith Malinga saw Rahul (111) getting dismissed in the 41st over.
Rishabh Pant was the only Indian batsman who failed to shine as he was caught plumb in front by Isuru Udana in the 42nd over. In the end, skipper Kohli guided India home in the 44th over with an unbeaten 34, with Hardik Pandya giving him company on 7. Earlier, placed precariously at 55/4 in the 12th over at the Headingley Cricket Ground, Sri Lanka finally saw their most experienced batsman rise to the challenge as Angelo Mathews hit a slow yet steady 113 off 128 balls (4×10, 6×2) to take the island nation to 264/7 in their 50 overs.A 124-run partnership with Lahiru Thirimanne (53; 68 balls, 4×4) went a long way in bringing the Lankans back into their final World Cup game. Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka got off to a terrible start as Jasprit Bumrah sent back Dimuth Karunaratne for just 10 in the fourth over.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka: 264/7 in 50 overs (Angelo Mathews 113, Lahiru Thirimanne 53; Jasprit Bumrah 3/37) vs India: 265/3 in 43.3 overs (K.L. Rahul 111, Rohit Sharma 103) (IANS)
