‘Mummy mujhe boundary count se jeetna hai’ – Fans react as Sri Lanka thrash defending champions England by 8 wickets in ODI World Cup 2023 clash

The defending champions England clashed against Sri Lanka in the 25th match of the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday, October 26. The English side suffered an embarrassing 8-wicket loss to the Sri Lanka team and registered their 3rd loss of the tournament in just 5 matches.

Talking about the match, England won the toss and elected to bat first. Initially, it looked like Jos Buttler’s decision was right as Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan provided a cracking start to the team. However, the happiness didn’t last long as after stitching 45 runs together, Malan departed on the score of 28 runs. 

He looked good but succumbed to the guile of Angelo Mathews, who has recently joined the Sri Lankan squad by replacing Matheesha Pathirana. On the other hand, Joe Root ran himself out and Buttler threw it away just like he has been throwing in the previous matches. Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes steadied the rocking ship for a few overs before Mathews struck again.

Stokes was then left with the bowlers and he too perished trying the big shot due to which the English side were bundled out for just 156 runs in 33.2 overs. Lahiru Kumara picked up 3 wickets while Mathews and Kasun Rajitha picked up 2 wickets each for the team.

A stunning match-winning partnership by Nissanka and Samarawickrama

Chasing the target, Sri Lanka had a horrible start as they lost their first 2 wickets on the score of just 23 runs, courtesy of David Willey who dismissed both the dangerous batters Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis. However, no other bowlers could really contribute to the team.

Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama batted brilliantly as they stitched a match-winning and unbeaten 137-run stand for the 2nd wicket. Nissanka scored 77 runs off 83 balls which included 7 fours and 2 sixes while Samarawickrama played a knock of 65 runs off just 54 deliveries which included 7 fours and 1 six. Both helped the team to clinch a convincing 8-wicket victory over the English side.

Here’s how fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/ttjktyrt/status/1717538511505780803