Key events
35th over: India 225-3 (Iyer 20, Rahul 10) A firm sweep from Rahul is superbly stopped by the diving Chameera at short fine leg. That saved three runs.
Well, in theory it saved three runs. Trouble is, the single brought Shreyas Iyer on strike and he belaboured the next ball back over Hematha’s head for a 95-metre six. I think the ball has been lost.
34th over: India 214-3 (Iyer 12, Rahul 7) Madushanka is taken out of the attack, a strange and defensive move given he had taken two wickets in the last seven balls.
His replacement, Rajitha, gives India a jumpstart with a poor over that costs 13. KL Rahul cuts for four and then Shreyas Iyer drives magnificently over mid-off for six.
33rd over: India 201-3 (Iyer 4, Rahul 2) Shreyas pushes a single off Hemantha to bring up the 200. There are a few signs that the pitch is getting tired, and it certainly doesn’t look easy to go hard straight away against the old ball.
32nd over: India 199-3 (Iyer 3, Rahul 1) Whatever state they are in, Sri Lanka will always produce original bowlers who quicken the pulse and capture the imagination. Dilshan Madushanka’s list of wickets at this World Cup includes Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Babar Azam, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Bas de Leede, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. For a 23-year-old in a struggling team, that’s almost hall-of-fame stuff.
WICKET! India 196-3 (Kohli c Nissanka b Madushanka 88)
Virat Kohli will have to save his record-equalling century for the knockout stages: Dilshan Madushanka has done him with a lovely slower ball from round the wicket. Kohli, on 88, pushed tenatively and looped a simple catch to extra cover.
This is an outsanding middle-overs spell from Madushanka, who is now the joint leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 16. He looks a serious prospect.
31st over: India 195-2 (Kohli 88, Iyer 1) Sachin Tendulkar made 49 ODI hundreds in 452 innings. This is Kohli’s 276th. Different times, I know, but that’s a remarkable statistic.
He has slowed down slightly, with just six runs from the last 14 balls, and with Shreyas Iyer new to the crease there are just two runs from Hemantha’s over.
30th over: India 193-2 (Kohli 87, Iyer 0) That was the last ball of the over.
WICKET! India 193-2 (Gill c Mendis b Madushanka 92)
Shubman Gill falls eight runs short of his first World Cup hundred. He was duped by a slower bouncer from Madushanka and feathered it through to Mendis. Gill was trying to uppercut it over the keeper but there just wasn’t enough pace on the ball. It’s the end of a charming innings: 92 from 92 balls with 11 fours and two sixes.
29th over: India 185-1 (Gill 86, Kohli 86) Gill charges the new bowler Hemantha and beasts another six, straight into the sightscreen. This is the Shubman Gill we were promised in the World Cup brochure. He gets four more with the aid of a grubby misfield at point. Sri Lanka look done, and they’ve got another 21 overs of this to endure.
28th over: India 172-1 (Gill 75, Kohli 84) This result won’t mathematically eliminate Sri Lanka, though like England they would need snookers and a sighting of Halley’s comet to reach the last four. England can still qualify, which is beyond absurd.
Just as I was about to type that the boundaries have dried up a touch, Gill muscles a short ball from Chameera into the crowd at midwicket. That’s the first six of the match to go with 21 mostly pristine fours.
27th over: India 164-1 (Gill 68, Kohli 83) Kohli is closing in on his 49th ODI hundred, which would equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record. Imagine if No50 comes in a successful World Cup final runchase. He’s written plenty of scripts in the past 15 years but that would top the lot.
“With Kohli and Gill in imperious form,” writes Krishnamoorthy V, “you can stop this OBO and start playing Comfortably Numb – a track that describes Sri Lanka’s state of mind right now.”
The live version, right?
26th over: India 162-1 (Gill 67, Kohli 82) Chameera strays onto the pads of Kohli and is flicked majestically past mid-on for four. The fielding wasn’t great but it was such a classy stroke. I can’t remember the last time a quality attack bowled so many deliveries on leg stump as Sri Lanka today.
Nissanka denies Kohli another boundary with a terrific sprawling stop at deep extra cover – but then his throw is fumbled by the bowler and India take an overthrow. Like England in this heat a couple of weeks ago, Sri Lanka look ready to unravel.
25th over: India 151-1 (Gill 65, Kohli 73) Theekshana is usually so positive and purposeful with the ball. Today he looks flat, almost subservient, and two very poor deliveries are cut for four by Kohli and Gill. India are heading for a huge total.
24th over: India 140-1 (Gill 60, Kohli 67) Dushmantha Chameera returns to the attack. He bowled beautifully with the new ball but then injured his shoulder while trying to catch Virat Kohli.
The shoulder seems okay and he concedes four singles. It feels like every over is being milked for four or five singles at the moment.
At the end of the over there’s an unscheduled drinks break. It looks really hot out there, so much so that Kohli is batting in a cap at every opportunity.
23rd over: India 136-1 (Gill 58, Kohli 65) Theekshana replaces Hemantha, whose four overs were milked for 24. This is a relatively quiet spell, with only three boundaries in the last seven overs, and Theekshana gets away with conceding four singles.
22nd over: India 132-1 (Gill 56, Kohli 63) Kohli is giving a masterclass in how to play in the V. He times another on-drive for four, this time off Rajitha, which moves him into the serene sixties. He is playing phenomenally well, although the heat does seem to be affecting him.
21st over: India 126-1 (Gill 55, Kohli 58) Sri Lanka have caught only 61 per cent of their chances at this tournament, which is easily the lowest, and those early drops today have proved costly. I wouldn’t be too harsh on Chameera, who put down a tough return chance offered by Kohli and injured himself in the process, but Gill should have been taken by Asalanka.
Hemantha is milked for six runs. The commentators think this pitch isn’t quite the belter they first thought, which would make sense as it was used a couple of weeks ago. Either way, India are well ahead of the game. An innings like this should make them more comfortable batting first if they win the toss against South Africa.
20th over: India 120-1 (Gill 53, Kohli 54) A better over from Rajitha, with a much tighter line and length and a couple of good slower balls. Just one run from it.
19th over: India 119-1 (Gill 53, Kohli 53) Gill crashes Hemantha down the ground for four to reach a half-century that has been both elegant and punishing: 55 balls, eight fours, no sixes yet. He needed runs today.
At this rate India are going to go into the semi-finals with their entire XI in form; they’re almost the antonym of England.
18th over: India 113-1 (Gill 48, Kohli 52) It’s an extremely hot day in Mumbai and even Kohli looks a bit frazzled. Not that you’d know it from his batting.
This is getting ugly for Sri Lanka. Gill slaps Rajitha’s first ball over backward point for four, then mistimes a lofted shot that lands safely in the outfield. He’s two away from his second fifty of the World Cup.
17th over: India 106-1 (Gill 41, Kohli 52) A no-ball from Hemantha gives Kohli a free hit. He cuffs it for two to bring up a lordly half-century, made at exactly a run a ball. Apart from his golden period from around 2016-18, I’m not sure Kohli has ever batted better than he is right now. His average for the tournament has just ticked up to 100.
16th over: India 100-1 (Gill 39, Kohli 48) Too full from Madushanka, and Kohli plays a classic off-drive for four. Later in the over Gill runs down the track to flat-bat a thrilling boundary through extra cover. “I’ve done a few games in this tournament,” says Ricky Ponting, “and I reckon that’s the hardest shot I’ve seen live.”
India would love Gill and/or Shreyas Iyer to get a big one today. Of India’s best XI, they and Mohammed Siraj are the only players who haven’t made a major contribution so far.
“Yet more talk of Pink Floyd already,” weeps Kim Thonger, “but did you know that Roy Harper was the lead vocalist on Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar”, a track on Wish You Were Here. And Roy also wrote and sang the very wonderful When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease. There, a PROPER cricket connection.”
What about his run-out of Graham Gooch in 1987 though, eh? Eh? Amiwrong?
(Sorry.)
15th over: India 88-1 (Gill 35, Kohli 41) Dushan Hemantha, recalled today, replace Theekshana. His third ball is a delightful legbreak that beats Kohli’s defensive push and just misses the off stump. Seeing turn like that is simultaneously promising and ominous for Sri Lanka. Three from the over.
“I hope Sri Lanka realise they only have 40 overs to chase their target,” says Krishnamoorthy V. “Bumrah’s 10 overs don’t count.”
Are you saying Shami’s do?
14th over: India 85-1 (Gill 34, Kohli 39) Madushanka returns to the attack. His second ball is an attempted yorker that hits Gill on the pad, but it pitched outside leg stump and Sri Lanka’s discussion of a review is a brief one. I’d love to see a pitch map because it feels like Sri Lanka have bowled a surfeit of deliveries on or outside leg stump.
Ricky Ponting, who might be the best analytical commentator around, thinks the pitch is slightly slower than expected. That would make this an even better start for India, who are scoring at more than a run a ball. Time for drinks.
13th over: India 82-1 (Gill 33, Kohli 37) No word yet on the fitness of Madushanka and Chameera. Theekshana continues. Although he has bowled well at times, especially against England, overall he’s had a disappointing tournament: three wickets at 82 with an economy rate of 5.19.
Yet another leg-stump freebie is accepted by Gill, who then forces a lovely shot towards deep extra cover. The fielder does very well to save two runs with a sprawling stop. In fact it’s Madushanka, so he is back on.
12th over: India 72-1 (Gill 26, Kohli 36) There’s a long way to go, Guardian News and Media is not legally responsible for blah blah blah, but there’s a fair chance the winner of India’s match with South Africa on Sunday – and what a mouthwatering prospect that is – will avoid Australia in the semi-finals.
The alternative (New Zealand, Pakistan or Afghanistan) is surely preferable on current form, even allowing for India’s unhappy memories of 2019.
11th over: India 68-1 (Gill 24, Kohli 34) Time for the mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana. This is only his second ODI against India, so don’t talk to me about match-ups.
Kohli states his intent by lashing the first delivery to wide long off for four. It beggars belief, when you see him in this form, that he went almost three years without a century in international cricket.
10th over: India 60-1 (Gill 22, Kohli 28) Kohli’s average in this tournament (95.25) is almost as high as highest score (103*), which tells you how hard he has been to dismiss.
Mathews almost gets him with a seductive wide outswinger that beats the outside edge. That’s a good over, just three singles from it.
𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘! 😲
Rohit Sharma is CLEANED UP by Madushanka TWO BALLS IN! ❌
WHAT A START! 🇱🇰 pic.twitter.com/KienAW3kQK
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) November 2, 2023
9th over: India 57-1 (Gill 21, Kohli 26) Rajitha drifts onto the pads of Gill, who politely accepts the offer of four runs. Sri Lanka have bowled far too many deliveries on leg stump. A thumping cut stroke from Gill makes it seven boundaries in the last 19 balls – and brings up an increasingly breezy fifty partnership.
8th over: India 47-1 (Gill 15, Kohli 26) Angelo Mathews comes on for Chameera and is cut sweetly past backward point for four by Gill. After a good start, it already feels like this is getting away from Sri Lanka. Those dropped catches already feel costly, particularly Asalanka’s to reprieve Gill.
7th over: India 42-1 (Gill 10, Kohli 26) The tall right-arm seamer Kasun Rajitha is on for Madushanka, who bowled a mixed spell of 3-0-25-1. Maybe his brilliant dismissal of Rohit got too many juices flowing.
Kohli looks in ominous touch here. He plays a gorgeous off-drive for four, then touches a poor delivery to the fine-leg boundary.
6th over: India 33-1 (Gill 9, Kohli 18) Chameera continues for now. I’m not sure he’s right, though, and Kohli waves an overpitched delivery past mid-on for four more. Before the injury Chameera was landing it on a postage stamp.
5.3 overs: India 29-1 (Gill 9, Kohli 14) Another dropped catch! Kohli got a leading edge back towards the bowler, but this time it carried. Chameera stuck out a telescopic left arm, juggled the ball two or three times but couldn’t hold on. It would have been a great catch.
Chameera landed awkwardly on his right shoulder, which he injured recently, and he is feeling it between deliveries. Madushanka also left the field at the end of the previous over. Sri Lanka have had rotten luck with injuries.
Kohli is beaten by a nipbacker, then skims a cover drive for four. The physio comes on to treat Chameera, who doesn’t look comfortable at all.
5th over: India 25-1 (Gill 9, Kohli 10) Gill hammers a half-tracker from Madushanka for four to get off the mark from his ninth delivery. The next ball is pretty good, shaping back towards off stump, but Gill somehow makes enough room to ping a marvellous cut shot for four more.
Oh my, now Gill has been dropped! He pushed a wide delivery towards cover, where Asalanka fumbled a two-handed catch as he leapt to his left. It wasn’t an easy chance but most international cover fielders would have taken it.
4th over: India 14-1 (Gill 0, Kohli 9) Chameera has made an outstanding start – two overs, two maidens – and is causing Kohli plenty of problems. A leading edge drops short of Chameera, diving forward in his follow through; then Kohli gets away with successive inside-edges. The first hit the back leg and bounced fractionally short of the diving Kusal Mendis behind the stumps.
3rd over: India 14-1 (Gill 0, Kohli 9) India are aiming to become the sixth team to win the men’s World Cup without losing a game, after West Indies (1975 and 1979), Sri Lanka (1996) and Australia (2003 and 2007).
Back in the here and now, Kohli gets his second boundary with a bread-and-butter flick through midwicket. The wicket aside, Madushanka has been a bit too straight as he strives for the perfect inswinger.
2nd over: India 8-1 (Gill 0, Kohli 4) The pacy Dushmantha Chameera, who only joined the squad this week as a replacement for the injured Lahiru Kumara, shares the new ball. He starts well, hitting a length from the first ball, and cuts Gill in half with a nipbacker that bounces over middle stump. A maiden.
“Given the atrocious way David Willey was treated, and while digesting the news that the 2034 Fifa World Cup will be in Saudi Arabia, at least I do not have to watch Virat Kohli chasing his hundred as India target a win,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Did Pink Floyd pass your threshold of acceptance?”
I haven’t had chance to listen to them yet. I feel like it’s the kind of task for which you need to block out a few hours: out of office on, phone in a lockbox, industrial blackout eye mask, the works.
1st over: India 8-1 (Gill 0, Kohli 4) Virat Kohli almost falls first ball! He flicked an inswinger round the corner and just short of the man who has been placed for the catch at short fine leg.
Another inswinger, this time a bit too straight, is flicked safely for four by Kohli to complete an eventful first over.
The replay of Rohit’s dismissal makes it look even better – Madushanka had the nerve to bowl an off-cutter second ball and the ability to execute it perfectly.
WICKET! India 4-1 (Rohit b Madushanka 4)
Pick that out! Rohit has fallen to the second ball of the match, cleaned up spectacularly by Madushanka. Having flicked the first ball for four, Rohit played down the wrong line at a beautiful off-cutter that sent the off stump flying.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill stroll into the middle. The left-arm swing bowler Dilshan Madushanka, who has had a fine World Cup, will open the bowling.
Match-up alert!
Back in the day, Sachin Tendulkar had an unlikely nemesis: Hansie Cronje, whose medium-pace dobbers caused him all sorts of bother.
Rohit Sharma also has an improbable adversary. The man who has dismissed him most in ODI cricket – more than all the world’s great quick bowlers and mystery spinners – is our old friend Angelo Mathews, so keep an eye out for that today.
It’s fascinating, and more than a little bizarre, that so many great batters have one dobber they just cannot cope with: Eknath Solkar and Geoff Boycott, Brian Lara and Chris Harris, Everyone and Darren Stevens. Somebody should write a book on it. Okay, a longform feature. A sidebar?
Here’s the list of bowlers who have dismissed Rohit the most in ODIs.
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7 Angelo Mathews
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5 Morne Morkel, Tim Southee
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4 Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Nuwan Kulasekera, Kagiso Rabada, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Adam Zampa
Ricky Ponting says he “cannot believe” Sri Lanka have bowled first. He’s inspecting the pitch with Michael Atherton on the global TV coverage. It’s the same one that was used when South Africa scored 48 million against England a fortnight ago; some used pitches can be slow and awkward but this has a lovely sheen. Punter and Athers reckon it’s a belter.
Team news
India are unchanged, and why not. Sri Lanka make one change: the legspinning allrounder Dushan Hemantha replaces the offspinning allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva.
India Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav.
Sri Lanka Nissanka, Karunaratne, Mendis (c/wk), Samarawickrama, Asalanka, Mathews, Hemantha, Chameera, Theekshana, Rajitha, Madushanka.
Sri Lanka win the toss and bowl
If nothing else it makes sense to deny Virat Kohli a runchase. Rohit Sharma says he would have batted first anyway.
Preamble
Morning. It’s never a great sign when, in a sporting world that treats a mundane press conference like a JFK moment, a preview of an upcoming match focusses almost entirely on the past. In football it’s been happening with Arsenal v Manchester United for over a decade, and there’s a similar mood ahead of the today’s game between India and Sri Lanka.
The build-up has centred on another meeting in Mumbai 12 years ago – the World Cup final that India won so euphorically. In a sense that’s understandable, but it also reflects the fact that nobody has much to say about this game. India win, the end.
That’s by far the likeliest scenario, although the whole point of a seismic shock is that, unlike poor old Bobby Bacala, you don’t see it coming. India know that from the 1983 final.
Let’s accentuate the positive. Sri Lanka are a talented, likeable side who ran India close in the recent Asia Cup. Okay, they ran them close in the Super Four stage, when they lost a low-scoring game by 41 runs. The final was marginally less jeopardous. Sri Lanka were skittled for 50 and lost by 10 wickets with 43.1 overs to spare. And they had home advantage that day.
Before we proceed to the toss and team news, a bit of housekeeping. Apparently India still haven’t clinched a semi-final place, which is headache-inducingly strange, but they will if they win today.
Sri Lanka will be out, realistically if not mathematically, should they lose. But if they somehow beat India – and somebody is going to, one of these years – they will join an increasingly desperate scrap for the last two semi-final places.
The match begins at 8.30am GMT, 2pm in Mumbai.
