India powered into the World Cup semi-finals today after Javagal Srinath inspired a comprehensive 183-run victory over close rivals Sri Lanka in their Super Sixes encounter at the Wanderers.
Chasing India's formidable 292 for six, Sri Lanka were dismissed for a lowly 109, only just eclipsing their lowest World Cup total of 86 recorded against West Indies in 1975, after Srinath claimed three wickets in his opening two overs with the new ball.
Srinath, 33, removed Marvan Atapattu and youngster Jehan Mubarak in his first over and then claimed the prized wicket of Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lanka's leading batsman during this tournament.
He struck again six overs later to end the determined resistance of Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who drove straight to cover as his side plunged to 40 for five and in danger of recording one of the lowest ever totals at a World Cup.
They were saved from that fate by a defiant 30 from Kumar Sangakkara and a swashbuckling 13 from only 10 balls from tail-ender Dilhara Fernando, who shared a 31-run last wicket partnership with Muttiah Muralitharan.
India's innings had been much less dramatic other than the passing of personal landmarks for both Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag during a productive opening partnership of 153.
Already the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 474 runs going into today's showdown, Tendulkar dominated Sri Lanka's attack and looked certain to claim his 35th one-day international century.
But just as he fell just two runs short of three figures against Pakistan during the preliminary stages, Tendulkar was today dismissed for 97 when he mis-timed an attempted sweep off de Silva which looped behind to give Sangakkara a simple catch behind the stumps.
Tendulkar's disappointment was obvious, but at least he had the consolation of having passed his own previous World Cup aggregate of 523 runs, recorded during the 1996 tournament, when he had reached his half-century.
His contribution was not the only bonus for India, who were seeking the victory which would enable them to join Australia in the semi-finals, with fellow opener Sehwag finally emerging from his slump in form to score his maiden half-century of the tournament.
Sehwag's previous best score was 36 against Zimbabwe, a run of form which had caused unrest and criticism on the cricket-loving sub-continent.
But today he rediscovered his confidence to hit 66 from 76 balls, which included three sixes and five fours, before falling as he attempted to hit Muttiah Muralitharan over the top but instead picked out long on.
Tendulkar fell with 11 overs remaining and India failed to accelerate as quickly as they would have liked with Chaminda Vaas claiming two late wickets as four wickets fell in the final four overs.