India dismantles Sri Lanka to book semifinal spot at Cricket World Cup with 302-run win

India bowlers secure 302-run win over Sri Lanka in World Cup, Siraj and Shami take 3 and 5 wkts respectively. Gill and Iyer score 92 and 82, Kohli 88. India now top points table, semifinal spot secured.

India became the first team to secure a semifinal spot at the Cricket World Cup after Mohammed Siraj bowled a stellar opening spell to help the hosts dismantle Sri Lanka for a 302-run win on November 2.

Siraj took three wickets for nought in the first seven balls as Sri Lanka lost its first four wickets for just three runs within 19 deliveries.

Mohammed Shami then took four wickets in three overs in his opening spell, as Sri Lanka was bowled out for 55 runs in 19.4 overs. That was after Shubman Gill’s 92 and a quick-fire 82 off 56 balls from Shreyas Iyer helped India reach 357-8. It was the second biggest margin of victory in World Cup history.

Shami finished with 5-18 in five overs, his second five-wicket haul in this tournament. Siraj finished with 3-16 in seven overs.

Virat Kohli also scored 88 runs, and he and Gill put on 189 for India's second wicket. It was the highest team score without an individual hundred in a World Cup.

India rose atop the points’ table with a perfect record after seven games and is the only unbeaten side in the tournament. It will play its semifinal at the same venue on Nov. 15, unless it meets archrival Pakistan in the last four — in which case the game would be played in Kolkata on Nov. 16.

With a fifth defeat in seven games, Sri Lanka still has a mathematical chance of reaching the semifinals by winning its remaining two games, but will also need other results going its way.