Shreyas Iyer fails to join former India captain by a whisker despite brilliance vs Sri Lanka in World Cup 2023

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Shreyas Iyer missed out on a World Cup record by a whisker against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

The Indian batter was brilliant on the day as he scored a fantastic 82 runs off just 56 balls. Iyer showed excellent batting quality and destroyed the Lankan bowling attack on the day, hitting 3 fours and 6 sixes.

Iyer's brilliant batting display helped India to post 357 at the end of their 50 overs. But the 28-year-old has missed out on a World Cup record for India by just one hit. Iyer cleared the boundary six times, just one short of Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh's 7 sixes in an ODI World Cup innings.

Most Sixes for India in a World Cup innings

Sourav Ganguly hit 7 sixes against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup, while Yuvraj Singh hit the same number in the World Cup 2007 against Bermuda.

Shreyas Iyer has now joined Kapil Dev and Rohit Sharma, who also cleared the fence 6 times in a World Cup match for India. Kapil did it in his brilliant inning against Zimbabwe in 1983, while Rohit showed his six-hitting prowess against Pakistan in Ahmedabad this year.

Shreyas Iyer was excellent in Mumbai, and the batter credited Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill for India's mammoth total.

"It was magnificent to watch the partnership between Gill and Kohli, the way they took the singles, twos and the boundaries, they laid the platform for us. We were told that the odd ball was stopping and holding a bit, so it was a good partnership that they had and it helped us later on," Iyer said at the mid-innings break.

India have already won six matches in the tournament and a win over Sri Lanka will make it seven for them and thus seal their berth for the World Cup 2023 semifinals.