Twitter Reactions: England's World Cup campaign in tatters as Sri Lanka humble the defending champions in Bengaluru

England’s campaign in the ICC World Cup 2023 got massively derailed as they were hammered by Sri Lanka by eight wickets on Thursday, October 26 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. After opting to bat first, England were bundled out for 156 in 33.2 overs. In reply, Sri Lanka comfortably chased down the target in 25.4 overs and registered their second win of the tournament.

The Kusal Mendis-led side didn’t get off to a great start as they lost their opener Kusal Perera (4 off 5) in just the second over of the innings. They further lost their skipper in the sixth over who departed after scoring 11 (12). Following their dismissals, Pathum Nissanka (77* off 83) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (65* off 54) got involved in a massive unbeaten 137-run stand off 122 balls to help their side reach the target without any trouble.

Earlier in the day, after opting to bat first, England opener Jonny Bairstow survived on the first ball as Sri Lanka failed to review the lbw decision. After the reprieve, Bairstow along with Dawid Malan (28 off 25) added 45 runs for the first wicket off 39 balls. Comeback man Angelo Mathews got the first success for his side as he made Malan edge one to wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis.

Joe Root walked in at number three but unfortunately got run out due to a miscommunication with Bairstow after scoring just three runs. Bairstow also couldn’t make the most of his reprieve and got dismissed for 30 (31) in the 15^th over. Jos Buttler (8 off 6), Liam Livingstone (1 off 6), Moeen Ali (15 off 15) and Chris Woakes (0 off 4) also departed cheaply to leave England in all sorts of trouble at 123/7.

Lahiru Kumara starred with the ball for Sri Lanka

Ben Stokes (43 off 73) tried his best to get his team to a respectable total but his dismissal in the 31^st over meant that England were staring down the barrel. As a result, the defending champions were bundled out for 156 in 33.2 overs. Lahiru Kumara was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka (3/35, 7 overs) while Kasun Rajitha (2/36, 7 overs) and Angelo Mathews (2/14, 5 overs) picked two wickets each.

Check Here: Most Wickets in Cricket World Cup 2023

Meanwhile, X was abuzz with reactions on Sri Lanka’s dominant win over England. Here are some of the posts:

A brilliant all round bowling performance👏
Lahiru Kumara hit the right areas, Angelo showed everyone the value of experience, and the fielders backed it up with an energetic effort❤️
Over to the batters to chase down this moderate total💪#ENGvSL #CWC2023

— Lasith Malinga (@malinga_ninety9) October 26, 2023

This is turning out to be one of the worst World Cup campaigns in English cricket history .. btw .. & we have had some stinkers .. #CWC2023 !!!

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 26, 2023

It'll be interesting to watch how England tries to defend this total! #ENGvSL #CWC2023

— Robin Aiyuda Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) October 26, 2023

Woakes not having much luck this tournament. A player I've always wanted to see do well. Sri Lanka on fire. #SLvsENG #CWC23

— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) October 26, 2023

England have been a sad story in CWC 23 #ENGvSL #SLvsENG #Cricket #ENGvsSL#Alizasehar #BabarAzamIsMyCaptian #PAKvsSA #INDvsENG #DeepikaPadukone
Erdogan England "Abrar Ahmed" #CWC23 #CWC2023 #Bitcoin #Gaza_Genocide #AUSvsNED pic.twitter.com/0n0aB2O7zf

— Doc Reviews (@Drviews137) October 26, 2023

The biggest upset of #CWC23 is that team England has not performed as per their potential.
The firework from England is missing #ENGvsSL #SLvsENG #WorldCup2023

— Rahul Mishra (@mishra_rahul93) October 26, 2023

Very few things gives me more happiness than hammering of England in cricket. Maza aa gaya. Jos pack your bag boy to get hamulated in 4 more matches. #ENGvsSL #SLvsENG #JosButtler

— Bikram Pratap Singh (@bikram123) October 26, 2023

I think the main reason why England's batting is struggling at the moment is 'Their 4-5-6-7 is batting one position above where they should actually bat to provide the team a better balance!'#ENGvSL #ENGvsSL #SLvENG #SLvsENG #ENGLAND #WORLDCUP23 #CWC23 #Buttler #Bazball

— Yojak Vyas (@yojak_vyas) October 26, 2023

Ben Stokes must be regretting his decision to come back from retirement.😭#ENGvsSL #ENGvSL #SLvsENG #SLvENG

— 🍷 (@FursatKiiHassi) October 26, 2023

Sri Lanka directly jumps to the 5th position in the points table.#CWC23 #CWC2023 #SLvsENG #SLvENG #ENGvsSL #ENGvSL #Bangalore #Bengaluru #ChinnaSwamyStadium pic.twitter.com/w0mBkePk7p

— Deshraj Singh (@DeshrajH) October 26, 2023

SRI LANKA WIN BY A STREET AND ENGLAND'S MISERY DEEPENS

Sri Lanka 160-2 (Nissanka 77, Samarawickrama 65) A six from Nissanka, and England are put out of their misery – or rather, pitched into another level of it. They’ve been utterly outplayed.#ENGvsSL #SLvsENG #Mumbai #Dhoni…

— Johny Bava (@johnybava) October 26, 2023