Against Sri Lanka at Headingley, Rohit Sharma scored a record fifth hundred at the 2019 World Cup, the most by anyone in a single edition, powering India to a comprehensive seven-wicket win in their last round-robin fixture. Here’s Anand Vasu’s report from the 2020 Wisden Almanack.
First published in the 2020 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack
Sri Lanka v India
Match 44, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019
Headingley, Leeds
July 6, 2019
India ended their league engagements with a comprehensive win. With seven victories, a washout and a defeat, they topped the table with 15 points. But they had to wait a few hours to find out whether Australia could overtake them by beating South Africa: they could not, leaving India with a semi-final against New Zealand at Old Trafford.
The man behind their success was Rohit Sharma, who scored his fifth century of the tournament, beating Kumar Sangakkara’s World Cup record of four in 2015. Sharma powered a 189-run opening partnership in pursuit of 265, and Rahul later brought up his second ODI hundred. By the time he was dismissed, India needed just 21.
Sri Lanka had chosen to bat, but were pushed on the back foot by Bumrah, who removed the openers; at 55 for four, they were on the edge. A painstaking 113 from Mathews and fifty from Thirimanne put a score on the board, if not one likely to trouble India.
A week after a plane towing a political message disrupted Pakistan’s match here with Afghanistan, there was another airborne protest, this time opposing India’s rule in the disputed region of Kashmir.
The game was Ian Gould’s last as an international umpire, after 74 Tests, 140 ODIs and 37 Twenty20s.
