A brilliant century by veteran Mahela Jayawardene could not change the script for the beleaguered visitors in the third one-dayer and that itself was a reflection of India’s complete domination.
Thanks to the belligerence of opener Shikhar Dhawan and captain Virat Kohli, India won the third one-dayer by six wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday.
Chasing a modest target of 243, India was never in trouble with openers Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan off to a decent, if not explosive start. The former looked good for another big score before he saw his upper-cut off Thisara Perera go straight to Mahela Jayawardene at slip.
Then, the local hero Ambati Rayudu played some exquisite strokes. But, his stay was cut short because of a suicidal run-out.
Effortless
Dhawan and Kohli played with effortless ease which was more than symbolic of the proceedings.
The former looked set for his second century of the series but was terribly disappointed at being given out — caught behind off medium-pacer Nuwan Kulasekara — even as he was taking evasive action against a short-pitched ball.
However, Dhawan became the fastest Indian to score 2000 runs during the course of his 91. He achieved this in his 49th match and 48th innings while Navjot Sidhu and Saurav Ganguly did so in their 52nd innings.
The 26-year-old Kohli, who crossed the 6000-run mark in ODIs, stayed almost till the end to the delight of near-capacity crowd and in the company of Suresh Raina ensured that the Sri Lankans suffered yet another embarrassing defeat.
Kohli became the fastest batsman to score 6000 runs by achieving the mark in his 136th innings to beat the record of Vivian Richards, who had scored 6000 runs in his 156th ODI innings.
Earlier, Sri Lanka’s most experienced cricketer on this tour, Mahela Jayawardene, cracked his 17th ODI hundred (118) in his 426th match to stand tall even as the others who followed him failed to make an impression on what looked to be a perfect batting track.
Quick strikes
Sri Lanka’s decision to bat first in overcast conditions was a bit of a surprise. India’s seamer Umesh Yadav relished it with a four-wicket haul.
He dismissed Kusal Perera with the sixth ball of the innings when the batsman squared up only to edge to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Soon, he struck a big blow by removing the experienced Kumar Sangakkara for a first-ball duck, inducing an edge to Ashwin at first slip.
A 105-run stand for the third wicket between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jayawardene, who during the innings also became the fifth batsman in the ODI history to score more than 12,000 runs, threatened to take dangerous proportions as the two showed how well one could bat on this track if the stroke-selection was good.
But, to the delight of his skipper, part-time bowler Ambati Rayudu struck forcing Dilshan to play over extra-cover and Ajinkya Rahane pulled off a smart catch.
It was a one man show as Jayawardene helplessly watched his partners come and depart even as he re-asserted his stature before Ashwin had him stumped smartly by Saha in the 45th over.
The pace of mesh and the left-arm spin of Axar Patel, who had remarkable figures of 3-1-11-3 in the batting power-play, were just too good for the Lankans.
It would have been more dismal but for a useful 67-run stand off 51 balls for the eighth wicket between Jayawardene and Seekkuge Prasanna.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka : K. Perera c Saha b Yadav 4 (6b, 1x4), T. Dilshan c Rahane b Rayudu 53 (80b, 7x4), K. Sangakkara c Ashwin b Yadav 0 (1b), M. Jayawardene st. Saha b Ashwin 118 (124b , 12x4, 1x6), A. Mathews c Kohli b Patel 10 (14b, 1x4), A. Priyanjan c Yadav b Patel 2 (8b), C. de Silva c Dhawan b Patel 2 (7b), T. Perera c (sub) Binny b Yadav 1 (4b), S. Prasanna b Yadav 29 (32b, 2x4, 1x6), N. Kulasekara c Rahane b Kulkarni 7 (12b), L. Gamage (not out) 0 (4b); Extras (lb-3, w-11, nb-2): 16; Total (in 48.2 overs): 242.
Fall of wickets : 1-5 (K. Perera), 2-7 (Sangakkara), 3-112 (Dilshan), 4-144 (Mathews), 5-148 (Priyanjan), 6-154 (de Silva), 7-158 (T. Perera), 8-225 (Jayawardene), 9-238 (Prasanna).
India bowling : Yadav 9-0-53-4, Kulkarni 9.2-0-58-1, Ishant 4-1-14-0, Patel 10-1-40-3, Ashwin 10-0-43-1, Raina 3-0-15-0, Rayudu 3-0-16-1.
India : A. Rahane c Jayawardene b Perera 31 (47b, 5x4), S. Dhawan c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 91 (79b, 8x4, 1x6), A. Rayudu run out 35 (46b, 3x4), V. Kohli c Gamage b Dilshan 53 (61b, 4x4, 1x6) , S. Raina (not out) 18 (23b, 1x6), W. Saha (not out) 6 (10b, 1x4) ; Extras: (lb-2, w-8, nb-1) 11; Total (for four wkts. in 44.1 overs): 245.
Fall of wickets : 1-62 (Rahane), 2-131 (Rayudu), 3-201 (Dhawan), 4-236 (Kohli).
Sri Lanka bowling : Kulasekara 8-0-37-1, Gamage 6-0-50-0, Prasanna 9-0-43-0, T. Perera 7-0-33-1, De Silva 5-0-45-0, Mathews 3-0-17-0, Dilshan 4-0-10-1, Priyanjan 2.1-1-8-0.
Toss : Sri Lanka.
Man-of-the-Match : M. Jayawardene.
