Shami stars as India hammer woeful England

LUCKNOW: Mohammed Shami led an inspired bowling display as India hammered England by 100 runs on Sunday to stay unbeaten in the World Cup and all but push the defending champions out of the semi-final race.

Chasing a tricky 230 for victory in Lucknow, England collapsed to 129 all out in 34.5 overs to suffer their fifth defeat in six matches and leave their title defence at the mercy of a mathematical miracle.

The hosts have six wins in as many games and are virtually assured of a semi-final place. Skipper Rohit Sharma led the charge with 87 as India posted 229-9, a total that looked below par but proved enough for a struggling England side on a sluggish pitch.

Shami returned figures of 4-22 while fellow quick Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets to wrap up the match as fireworks lit up the sky. England had a disastrous start and fell to 52-5 after Bumrah took wickets on successive ball to be on a hat-trick and Shami joined forces to grab two more.

Bumrah sent back Dawid Malan, for 16, and Joe Root, for nought, but Jonny Bairstow played out the hat-trick ball. England soon lost Ben Stokes, bowled by Shami, to raise India´s hopes of defending the total he then brought the house down when he bowled Bairstow for 14 as 46,000 fans, largely all Indian in blue jerseys, roared.

Wickets kept tumbling and skipper Jos Buttler was bowled by Kuldeep for 10, and Shami sent Moeen Ali packing for 15 and the end was near. Earlier England left-arm quick David Willey returned figures of 3-45, including the prized wicket of Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck, after they elected to bowl.

The unbeaten hosts lost three early wickets, including two to Chris Woakes, to slip to 40-3 before Rohit steadied the innings and built a 91-run stand with KL Rahul, who made 39.

Rohit survived a reprieve on 33 when he was given out lbw but the opener reviewed the decision in his favour with tracking showing the ball would have missed the leg stump. Rohit reached his second fifty of the tournament -- he also hit a century against Afghanistan -- to the noisy delight of the nearly-packed 50,000-seater stadium.

England won the toss

India Innings

Sharma (c) c Livingstone b Rashid 87

Shubman Gill b Woakes 9

Kohli c Stokes b Willey 0

Iyer c Wood b Woakes 4

Rahul c Bairstow b Willey 39

Yadav c Woakes b Willey 49

Jadeja lbw b Rashid 8

Shami c Buttler b Wood 1

Bumrah run out Buttler 16

Kuldeep Yadav not out 9

Extras: (b 4, w 3) 7

Total: 50 Ov (RR: 4.58) 229/9

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-27, 3-40, 4-131, 5-164, 6-182, 7-183, 8-208, 9-229

Bowling: David Willey 10-2-45-3, Chris Woakes 9-1-33-2, Adil Rashid 10-0-35-2, Mark Wood 9-1-46-1, Liam Livingstone 4-1-29-0, Moeen Ali 8-0-37-0

England Innings

Bairstow b Mohammed Shami 14

Dawid Malan b Bumrah 16

Joe Root lbw b Bumrah 0

Ben Stokes b Shami 0

Buttler (c) b Kuldeep Yadav 10

Ali c Rahul b Mohammed Shami 15

Livingstone lbw b Yadav 27

Woakes st Rahul b Jadeja 10

David Willey not out 16

Adil Rashid b Shami 13

Mark Wood b Bumrah 0

Extras: (lb 2, w 6) 8

Total: 34.5 Ov (RR: 3.70) 129

Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-30, 3-33, 4-39, 5-52, 6-81, 7-98, 8-98, 9-122, 10-129

Bowling: Jasprit Bumrah 6.5-1-32-3, Mohammed Siraj 6-0-33-0, Mohammed Shami 7-2-22-4, Kuldeep Yadav 8-0-24-2, Ravindra Jadeja 7-1-16-1

Match Result: India won by 100 runs

Player of the match: Rohit Sharma

Umpires: Adrian Holdstock, Rod Tucker