Dasun Shanaka hit his 2nd ODI ton, but Sri Lanka fell 67 runs short of the mammoth 374-run target set by India in the 1st ODI in Guwahati.
The Indian innings was headlined by yet another century from Virat Kohli, his 45th in ODI Cricket, but the game was taken away from Sri Lanka by the Indian openers, skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, who put on 143 for the 1st wicket in just 19.4 overs.
Sharma, returning to the side at the expense of Ishan Kishan, who made a double hundred in the last ODI India played, was the chief aggressor, hitting his straps right from the word go. The right-hander looked in ominous form, as did his opening partner but neither managed to make it to triple figures against an attack that looked clueless in the face of their onslaught.
Each of the Indian players came out with the intent to go after the bowling and when they reached 200 in just 27 overs, the hosts looked well-set to cross the 400-run mark. However, Sri Lanka pulled things back in the last 10, conceding just 79, to see a target of 374 set.
Kohli reached his 73rd International century off 80 deliveries, but what let off twice (on 52 & 81) by the Sri Lankan fielders, with Kusal Mendis and Dasun Shanaka both dropping catches off the bowling of Kasun Rajitha.
The chase was always going to be a difficult one but when Sri Lanka lost Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis early, it more or less became a case of seeing how close Sri Lanka could get.
Pathum Nissanka got 72 off 80, but at no point of his innings did India really feel threatened as he struggled to get any fluency in his shots. Dhananjaya de Silva looked fluent in his 47 but gave it away with a loose shot.
Ultimately it was left to the skipper Shanaka to make a game of it, but with wickets falling around him, all he could hope to do was to bat out the overs. After a sluggish start, he got into his zone, hitting 12 fours and 3 sixes in his knock of 108*. The game nearly ended I drama as Mohammed Shami ran Shanaka out at the non-striker’s end with the latter on 98*, off the 3rd ball of the last over, but the Indian skipper withdrew the appeal and Shanaka went on to end the innings with a four and a six.
The 2nd ODI is set to be played at the Eden Gardens on Thursday 12th January.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | b Dilshan Madushanka | 83 | 67 | 9 | 3 | 123.88 |
| Shubman Gill | lbw b Dasun Shanaka | 70 | 60 | 11 | 0 | 116.67 |
| Virat Kohli | c Kusal Mendis b Kasun Rajitha | 113 | 87 | 12 | 1 | 129.89 |
| Shreyas Iyer | c Avishka Fernando b Dhananjaya de Silva | 28 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 116.67 |
| KL Rahul | b Kasun Rajitha | 39 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 134.48 |
| Hardik Pandya | c Wanidu Hasaranga b Kasun Rajitha | 14 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 116.67 |
| Axar Patel | c Avishka Fernando b Chamika Karunaratne | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Mohammed Shami | not out | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Mohammed Siraj | not out | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 87.50 |
| Extras | 6 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 5, pen 0) |
| Total | 373/7 (50 Overs, RR: 7.46) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kasun Rajitha | 10 | 0 | 88 | 3 | 8.80 | |
| Dilshan Madushanka | 6 | 0 | 43 | 1 | 7.17 | |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | 10 | 0 | 67 | 0 | 6.70 | |
| Chamika Karunaratne | 8 | 0 | 54 | 1 | 6.75 | |
| Dunith Wellalage | 8 | 0 | 65 | 0 | 8.12 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 3 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 7.33 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 5 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 6.60 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Axar Patel b Umran Malik | 72 | 80 | 11 | 0 | 90.00 |
| Avishka Fernando | c Hardik Pandya b Mohammed Siraj | 5 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 41.67 |
| Kusal Mendis | b Mohammed Siraj | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Charith Asalanka | c KL Rahul b Umran Malik | 23 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 82.14 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c KL Rahul b Mohammed Shami | 47 | 40 | 9 | 0 | 117.50 |
| Dasun Shanaka | not out | 108 | 88 | 12 | 3 | 122.73 |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | c Shreyas Iyer b Yuzvendra Chahal | 16 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 228.57 |
| Dunith Wellalage | c Shubman Gill b Umran Malik | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | c Rohit Sharma b Hardik Pandya | 14 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Kasun Rajitha | not out | 9 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 47.37 |
| Extras | 12 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 8, pen 0) |
| Total | 306/8 (50 Overs, RR: 6.12) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammad Shami | 9 | 0 | 67 | 1 | 7.44 | |
| Mohammed Siraj | 7 | 1 | 30 | 2 | 4.29 | |
| Hardik Pandya | 6 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 5.50 | |
| Umran Malik | 8 | 0 | 57 | 3 | 7.12 | |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | 10 | 0 | 58 | 1 | 5.80 | |
| Axar Patel | 10 | 0 | 58 | 0 | 5.80 | |
