World Cup 2023: If there is a perfect bowling performance and a day in cricket, anyone can hardly beat what the ever-exuberant Indian fans and cricket lovers around the globe saw on Thursday evening in Mumbai. An Indian pace trio, being hailed as one of the strongest, displayed some magic with the white ball as Sri Lanka were mauled in one of the most lop-sided contests the game has ever witnessed. Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah would be the heroes for all the Indians but ask any Sri Lankan, they would hardly want to see these three bowling to their batters ever.
Wankhede, the venue where India clinched their second World Cup title 12 years ago, produced yet another night to remember for more than a billion Indians. 0,0,1,0,1 - This is not binary coding. This was the scoreline of Sri Lanka's top five batters, the fewest ever scored by a top five in Men's ODI history. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and then Mohammed Shami, the trio displayed skills and performances of another level that is hard for any batter to interpret. Yes, the conditions under light did help in swinging the ball in the first few overs but the way they executed it was one that shocked most of the cricket pundits and nerds.
Jasprit Bumrah steamed in, bowled a delivery angling in, then moves a little away to open one of Sri Lanka's most in form batter - Pathum Nissanka out LBW. A first-ball wicket and Wankhede was up on its feet. Siraj came in, probably knowing he had not done well enough so far in the tournament. But what happens to him when he is seeing Sri Lanka, nowadays is something hard to dissect. He came in running from over the wicket, pitched one in a fuller length area, angling across the Southpaw Dimuth Karunaratne. But then it moved in slightly and Karunaratne was plumbed in front to send Sri Lanka 2 down.
Three balls later, Sadeera Samarawickrama thought to take Siraj on. He came charging down the wicket but the bowler pulled his length back to get another inform Sri Lankan caught at slips - Wankhede was in a Euphoria now and Sri Lanka in tatters. Scoreline 2-3. Not a football match honestly, but Sri Lanka were almost kicked out. Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis was next. No way Siraj could have bowled that if you are a normal cricketer. But he is not that. This was what coaches teach a player for months - a delivery not on a length to be driven, not to be pulled either, plus threatening the top of the stumps. Add on, it angled in and then seamed away a little to make Mendis dance on his feet as the bail flew over and Sri Lanka slipped further.
If any Sri Lankan would have hoped for a better time after negotiating some fiery spells by Bumrah and Siraj, then they would have hoped horribly wrong. Mohammed Shami looks in the form of his life. He already had one fifer and one four-wicket haul in the two matches he played. The paceman then demolished the Sri Lankan middle and lower-middle order with his high-class seam bowling. The only batter who looked to resist the Indian bowling was Angelo Mathews. But after getting three wickets already, Shami bowled one out-of-the-box yorker dipping into the right-hander. The ball seamed in and the leg stump was sent for a walk. By then Sri Lanka were 8 down for 29. It needed some effort from the Lankan players to cross the fifty-run mark but all they could manage was 55. Shami got his five-wicket haul - India danced and celebrated in a night to remember at Wankhede.
