A peerless Rohit Sharma’s graceful willow continued its day job of breaking world records as India warmed up nicely for their World Cup semi-final, decimating Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their final group league match on Saturday.
The Indian vice-captain (103 off 94 balls) scored anunprecedented fifth hundred in a single World Cup edition as India surpassedthe Sri Lankan total of 264/7 in 43.3 overs and finished their leagueengagement with seven wins.
Ironically enough, whenever Angelo Mathews — who also hit acentury — showed his grit against India, Rohit has inevitably overshadowed himin his inimitable style.
It happened in Mohali in 2017 when his double hundredoverpowered Mathews’ century. Ditto at Headingley, one of the oldest cradles ofEnglish cricket where Matchews’ fighting ton became a footnote.
KL Rahul (111 off 118 balls), however, would have nocomplaints after scoring his maiden World Cup ton as he had the best seat inthe house while playing the perfect support cast.
Rohit’s artistry was at a different level as he bled the SriLankan bowling, especially Lasith Malinga (1/82 in 10 overs) with thousandcuts.
The supple wrists worked overtime, whether caressing theball through mid-wicket region time and again or bisecting a few between coverand point area.
The languid stance and those extra half second to manoeuvrethe balls to any part of the ground with lazy elegance made it a treat for thecapacity weekend crowd.
The 14 boundaries and two sixes could be a part of any highlightspackage with cover driven boundaries and the extra cover driven sixes, that onecould rewind and watch a thousand times.
The beauty in Rohit’s strokes ensured that people had theireyes transfixed on the on-ground entertainment unlike ICC bigwigs who kept ahawk’s eye on disturbing anti-India banners over the Headingley air space.
When Rohit finally got out, he was only 26 runs short ofSachin Tendulkar’s highest aggregate (673 runs in 2003 edition) of runs whichis up for grabs in the semi-final.
Earlier, Mathews had again turned out to be a thorn inIndia’s flesh with a gutsy hundred after a top-order collapse, guiding SriLanka to a respectable 264 for 7.
The former Sri Lanka captain (113 off 128 balls) played anear perfect knock with his back to the wall, to give his team a chance tofight which looked bleak after first hour.
Jasprit Bumrah (3/37 in 10 overs) was fast, accurate andmostly unplayable but Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/73 in 10 overs) had a forgettableday.
Mathews, who has now scored all his three ODI hundredsagainst India (Mohali and Ranchi earlier), hit 10 fours and two sixes in hisfinal knock of this competition.
Mathews came in at 53 for 3 and it soon became 55 for 4 whenLahiru Thirimanne (53 off 68 balls) joined him.
The duo added 124 runs for the fifth wicket to bail the teamout of the woods. He then had a 74-run stand for the sixth wicket withDhananjaya de Silva (29 off 36 balls) that helped Sri Lanka get past the250-run mark.
The 32-year-old Mathews’ knock was a treat to watch as itwas a perfect example of how to build an innings after a top-order collapse.
Ravindra Jadeja (1/40 in 10 overs) was given respect andonly twice he chanced his arms for two maximums.
Kuldeep Yadav (1/58 off 10 overs), after being droppedagainst Bangladesh, did not show much improvement as he was bowling too fullwhich both Thirimanne and Mathews found easy to negotiate.
Kuldeep, at the fag end of his spell, did get Thirimanne, who tried to hit the left-arm wrist spinner against the spin. With Mohammed Shami rested, India played with two seamers. While Bhuvneshwar was picked for special treatment by Mathews and Thirimanne, it was Bumrah, who had given his team initial momentum with two dismissals. PTI