India stretched their unbeaten run in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 to six wins in a row on Sunday after crushing defending champions England by 100 runs in Match 29 played at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
England's innings folded for 129 in 34.5 overs after India posted a below-par score of 229 on the board thanks to Rohit Sharma's crucial half-century.
Jasprit Bumrah started the carnage with two wickets off two balls in the fourth over as he removed Dawid Malan and Joe Root.
4-star Shami blows away England
Mohammed Shami then took centrestage and blew away England's middle-order with a spell for the ages. Shami also bagged two in two when he sent back Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow off successive deliveries to leave England reeling at 39 for 4 in 9.1 overs.
Root and Stokes were both dismissed for ducks while the openers Bairstow and Malan managed just 14 and 16 respectively.
Shami, Bumrah hunt in packs
With Shami and Bumrah taking the wind out of England's sails with their opening bursts, Kuldeep Yadav joined the party and bowled the ball of the tournament as he castled captain Jos Buttler with a delivery that turned 7.2 degrees back into the right-handed batter to crash into the stumps.
India never let the pressure off England throughout the second innings and kept picking wickets at regular intervals through their pacers and spinners.
Shami followed up his five-for against New Zealand with a four-wicket haul while Bumrah took three and Kuldeep bagged a couple of scalps. Ravindra Jadeja also contributed with one wicket.
Rohit Sharma leads from the front
This happened after Rohit Sharma played a captain's knock along with useful contributions from Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul to help India reach 229 for 9 in 50 overs.
Put into bat for the first time in this tournament, Indian batters struggled on a slow and tricky pitch but Rohit, Rahul and Surya stood tall for the Men in Blue. Rohit top-scored with 87 while Surya and Rahul made 49 and 39 runs respectively.
"Looking at where we were after the first 10 overs it was really important to create that partnership with KL Rahul.
"It was a challenging pitch, it got better to bat on as the game progressed, but happy with that win," Rohit said after clinching the Player of the Match award.
India on top, England's campaign all but over
India consolidated their position at the top of the points table with 12 points from 6 games and will next face Sri Lanka on November 2 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
England meanwhile, will take on Australia in their next game on November 4 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
This is the first time in ODI World Cup history that England have lost 5 games and are certain to exit the tournament before the semi-finals. This is also the first instance of England losing four World Cup matches in a row.
