‘A mid-summer’s night dream’ captured – A glance at India’s last meeting with Sri Lanka at Wankhede in ODI World Cups

In a tale of two polarizing sides in which India have almost confirmed their qualification for the semis with six wins from six games while Sri Lanka still remain on the precipice with one more defeat threatening to end their World Cup campaign, the Men in Blue will be locking horns against the Lions as Wankhede gears up for a swashbuckling contest.

12 years ago, when the two teams met in the same venue, history was forged as Team India snuffed out a 28-year-long drought to lift the most hallowed silverware in cricket on the planet. However, it was not all a bed of roses for the Men in Blue in that important fixture.

Before India clash against Sri Lanka in the World Cup 2023, we will take a quick look at how things went down in Wankhede when the two teams last collided for a mouth-watering World Cup clash.

After braving a hostile road that was spewing obstacles at every course, both the teams had their eyes set on the grand prize. Winning the toss, Sri Lanka opted to bat first and had a bit of early set back that took them a while to recover from. Zaheer Khan embraced his shot at redemption for that sloppy start, back in the 2003 World Cup final.

Zaheer’s early spell left Sri Lanka reeling as they lost Upul Tharanga cheaply while the dots kept on piling at the other end. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumara Sangakkara steered the Lankan ship to safety but not for long as Harbhajan and Yuvraj gatecrashed the party for them.

However, it was Mahela Jayawardene who stood out for the Lions while cameos at the other end ensured that India had to toil more than they bargained for as Sri Lanka posted a staggering 274/6. Jayawardene stayed unbeaten for 103 while a late charge from Thisara Perera was enough to send shivers down the Indian spine.

Much to the shock of the heaving, swirling Indian fans in the concourse, the Men in Blue had a couple of early setbacks and major ones in fact. Virender Sehwag was gone second ball as Lasith Malinga removed the opener. The frowns shortly turned into a glorifying cheer as Sachin Tendulkar knitted a couple of exquisite drives, the first one carved through the covers while the second one was pummeled straight down the ground.

Just as the Indian fans started hoping that the local lad, the hero who was central to the Indian hopes for almost close to two decades by them was going to emerge as the messiah for the billions, the unthinkable happened. Lasith Malinga’s outswinger had a nick of late wobble which kissed a very faint edge of Sachin’s willow and went flying into the hands of Sangakkara. The only noise in the entire stadium was that of the Sri Lankan team who were ecstatic with the massive scalp and their fans who kind of thought that with Sachin gone, they had the World Cup in their pocket.

The Indian fans were stunned and an eerie silence prevailed all over Wankhede as if we had arrived at a Necropolis with a clash in place where the prize was survival. As the Sachin chants dwindled with tears in the eyes, a certain youngster by the name of Virat Kohli walked out to the center. Only if the fans had known who they were welcoming back then, it is almost certain, the “Virat Virat” chants would have followed suit.

Braving the initial crosscurrents, Team India rode on the broad shoulders of a proven warhorse, Gautam Gambhir and the incipient Kohli to initially crawl, then walk and finally glide into a sense of safety. After playing a gritty knock of 35, Virat Kohli was undone by an almost unbelievable catch from Dilshan.

The frowns returned for sure but shocking everyone once again, in place of an in-form Yuvraj Singh, it was the Indian skipper, MS Dhoni who took the yard. Weathering the early storm, he started firing those early warnings while Gambhir navigated the Lankan shores without a fuss.

The duo added 103 runs for the fourth wicket that somewhat took the game away from the visitors and just when it felt that India was all set to celebrate Gautam Gambhir’s ton in the rollicking contest, the southpaw’s attempt to charge down the ground against Thisara Perera put an unexpected halt to his remarkable knock of 97 as his timbre went flying.

Finally, it was the man in form, Yuvraj Singh who took centerstage and from thereon, it was a sweet sail into the Promised Land for the Men in Blue. MS Dhoni sealed the deal in style as he launched Nuwan Kulasekara over long-on to chronicle history and Ravi Shastri’s iconic words captured the essence of the immortal moment in Indian cricketing history perfectly.