Showing India exactly what they were missing by leaving him out, Mohammed Shami came up with his third successive haul of four or more wickets in the 2023 ODI World Cup on Thursday to become India's highest wicket-taker in the showpiece tournament. Shami produced a lethal spell of seam bowling to return magical figures of 5/18, which took him to 45 wickets in just 14 ODI World Cup matches, beyond Zaheer Khan, who had 44 wickets from 23 games. (Highlights | Scorecard | Pics | Report | Points Table | Full Coverage)
Shami bagged the wickets of Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dushan Hemantha, Dushmantha Chameera and Kasun Rajitha to blow away the Lankan middle and lower-middle order. He followed up the ruthless spells of Jasprit Bumrah - who took a wicket off the very first ball of the innings - and Mohammed Siraj, who picked up three crucial wickets in a span of seven balls, to help India register an overpowering 302-run win at the Wankhede Stadium.
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You can watch the moment Shami became India's most successful ODI World Cup bowler in the video below.
With that, India became the first team to march into the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. The home team have won seven out of seven games they have played so far, and are confirmed a spot in the last-four stage. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, crashed out of semi-final reckoning.
Sri Lanka have just four points from their seven games so far and will not be able to make it to the last-four stage even if they win both their remaining games. They are the second team after Bangladesh to be eliminated in the group stage of this edition of the World Cup.
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Earlier, India scored a mammoth total of 357/8 in their 50 overs, thanks to top-class knocks from Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill. The duo combined for a pivotal 189-run partnership to take India to a strong position. Kohli eventually fell 12 runs short of equalling Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries, but he broke another major ODI record of his. Kohli has now notched up 1000-plus ODI runs in a calendar year eight times, surpassing Tendulkar's record of seven such calendar years.
