India Become First Team To Qualify For Semi-finals In ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

Hosts India have won seven out of seven games they have played, and are confirmed a spot in the last-four stage. They are on top of the points table in the 2023 ODI World Cup

Outlook Sports Desk

Updated on: 2 November 2023 3:20 pm

India celebrate the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Kasun Rajitha in Mumbai.

India became the first team to march into the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup on Thursday, November 2, after completing a 302-run walloping of Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium. 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. (Highlights | Scorecard | Pics | Report | Points Table | Full Coverage)

With the win, India also climbed to the top of the points table in the tournament with 14 points. They overtook South Africa, who have 12 points from seven games. The Proteas need one more win to seal their semis spot like India.

Chasing India's formidable target of 358, Sri Lanka were bowled out for a paltry 55 to suffer a humiliating defeat and crash 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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India's pacers Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj, and top-order batters Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill were the architects of the massive victory. Shami (5/18) bagged his second fifer of the tournament and became India's most successful bowler in the ODI World Cup with 45 wickets, surpassing Zaheer Khan, who had 44 scalps.

Siraj (3/16) picked up three crucial wickets in a span of seven balls to dismantle the Lankan batting line-up. His new-ball partner Jasprit Bumrah (1/8) had snared a wicket off the very first ball of the innings before that, becoming the first Indian to do that in an ODI World Cup innings.

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.