India mauled Sri Lanka by 302 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. With this win, India became the first nation to qualify for the semifinals.
Rohit Sharma, Indian skipper, said, Very happy knowing that we have officially qualified now. Been a good effort from the squad, when we started off in Chennai. This was our goal, to qualify first and then obviously to be in the semis and the finals. The way we approached these 7 games, it was quite clinical. Everyone put in the effort and a lot of individuals have put their hand up. Was a good challenge to put runs on the board, and that’s the kind of template you gotta have when you want to score that many runs. 350 on any pitch is a very good score and a lot of credit to the batting unit for taking us to that score and the bowlers did the job obviously. Shreyas is a very strong (in his mind) lad and today, as you saw, he went there and did what he is exactly known for and that is what we expect from him. Showed that he is ready to take the challenge that is in front of him and Siraj is another quality bowler for us and if he does that (making the new ball talk) things look different for us. He (Siraj) has got a lot of skills when he is operating with the new ball. Even Surya, for that matter, got us some crucial runs in the back end of the last game. To put in a performance back-to-back against England and now today, shows the quality of the seamers and if there is something in the conditions, they are quite lethal. All in all, it was pleasing to watch (bowlers dominating proceedings) and I hope they continue to do it that way. I have left it to the bowler and the keeper (whether or not to take a review) to make that decision for me, and I gotta find the individuals I can trust and I know it can go the other way as well. We got one right and one wrong today. They (South Africa) are playing some good cricket, and so are we. It’s gonna be a great spectacle for the people out there and people of Kolkata are gonna enjoy that game.