England vs Sri Lanka: Nissanka & Samarawickrama led the chase as Sri Lanka dominated and destroyed the defending champions by 8 wickets

Sri Lanka's impressive run against England in World Cups continues as they once again defeated the defending champions in the current edition of the World Cup. This was a dominant display by Sri Lanka and England are looking out of ideas right now. They are just looking like a side that are the defending champions. The last time England beat Sri Lanka in 1999, when Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, and Dunith Wellalage weren't born.

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England have now lost four games in the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023. In one of India's most batting-friendly venues, against a struggling, injury-ravaged opponent, England won the toss, chose to bat, and were rattled for just 156, the lowest total ever registered on this ground in a one-day international.

During the chase, Sri Lanka lost two quick wickets of Kusal Parera and Kusal Mendis, but Sadeera Samarawickrama (65*) and Pathum Nissanka (77*) built a strong partnership and defeated England by 8 wickets. For England, the only successful bowler was David Willey who took the two wickets. 

England are in a self-destruction mode right now. From 45 without loss to 85 for five and then they went on to get all out for just 156. Sri Lanka didn't have to do anything special as the English batters just gifted their opponent the wickets in a surface like Bengaluru where scoring lower than 200 is a challenge in itself.

Apart from Ben Stokes (43) and Jonny Bairstow (30), no other batter from England could last long on crease. For Sri Lanka, Lahiru Kumara took 3 wickets, Kasun Rajitha and Angelo Mathews picked 2 wickets each and Maheesh Theekshana clinched one wicket. Lahiru Kumara is named Player of the Match for his figures of 3 for 35.

England's World Cup journey has been disappointing, with just one win in their first four matches. The situation is such now that they will have to win all remaining five games and hope for a favorable net run rate. The same goes for Sri Lanka as well but the thing is no one expects Sri Lanka to fight for the title with a team like this as they are still stuck in a transition mode. Meanwhile, England are the defending champions and they were looking like the best team to challenge for the title before the competition. It's embarrassing for them that they are just unable to click anything yet. Even the Netherlands are making more effort than England at the moment.