SUPER SHARMA HAS GONE AND TON IT AGAIN!

run-scoring chart in the tournament ahead of Australia’s result after his 103 sent out a warning to India’s big rivals.

Captain Kohli (below) said: “Rohit can be unplayable at times. When he is in the zone and focusing so well it is hard for opponents to bowl at him and get him out.

“He’s been phenomenal over the last few years and his partnership with KL Rahul is so important for us in this attempt to win the World Cup.

“When they give us a strong start we tend to win.

“Now that we have made the semi-finals we don’t want to stop there. We came into the tournament aiming to win the trophy and we are in good shape at the moment but we must continue to perform our very best.

“If we play poorly it doesn’t matter who we are playing, we will lose the semi-final. But it is important to go out there and express ourselves and show our skill.”

Sharma sits proudly in the batting charts in this World

Cup with 647 and said: “I don’t go out there thinking I can make a hundred each innings, but I feel confident I will score a lot.

“I’m feeling in good form and want to carry on making sure the team get across the finishing line.”

Even Sri Lanka’s master swing bowler Lasith Malinga, bringing down the curtain on his illustrious World Cup career, had no answer to Sharma, who was seeing the ball like a balloon.

Rahul weighed in with a stylish 111 but even his innings was put in the shade by a team-mate who, once he gets his eye in, rarely loses focus. Earlier Jasprit Bumrah, one of the outstanding bowlers of the tournament, had ensured India were left chasing a soft target.

Bumrah took 3-37 after Sri Lanka chose to bat first and Angelo Mathews dug them out of an early mire.

Mathews hit 113 in his side’s 264-7 but the target was never going to be too difficult for India to chase down once their openers roared out the blocks.

Even when Sharma and then Rahul were sent back to the pavilion there was Kohli.

Malinga finished his final World Cup game with a wicket, that of Rahul, but India coasted to a seventh win in nine games.

– I was bowling the first over in a World Cup match, there was no bigger occasion, and it sort of relaxed me. “Ahead of the game against New Zealand the opposition were doing a lot of late fielding drills and our guys were having a game of football. For me that showed that the team were really relaxed and confident and chilled out going into that match. “I really believe that this side are different again. “They are a much better side than we were and think they can go on to win it.” Bairstow celebrates his ton against New Zealand that helped clinch semi-final slot MASTER BLASTER: Sharma on way to century hul Ea o b c SO PROUD: Sharma’s wife Ritika Sajdeh and child