Virat Kohli-led Team India maintained its winning momentum to seal the series against Sri Lanka in style by winning the second ODI by six wickets in Hyderabad. It was yet again a ruthless performance by the Indian team as they clinched the match in style.
India was equally good with both bat and ball, and after bundling the Islanders to a paltry total they chased down the target with ease. Umesh Yadav and Axar Patel continued their good form with the ball and were instrumental in India’s win.
Openers again gave India a good start and Shikhar Dhawan, despite losing Akinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu, took India close to the total. However, it was Kohli, who grabbed all the attention, as the Indian skipper crossed 6000 runs mark.
Here are the India vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI highlights:
This match was India’s 300th ODI in India. India became second country after Australia (398) to play 300 ODIs at home soil.
Kumar Sangakkara was dismissed for a duck for the 15th time in his ODI career – third time against India. This was the fourth time he recorded a golden duck. Two of these instances have come against India. Zaheer Khan had dismissed him bowled at Margao in 2007.
Mahela Jayawardene (118) completed his 12,000 ODI runs when his score reached 116. He became third Sri Lankan and fifth batsman to reach this mark after Sachin Tendulkar (18426), Ricky Ponting (13704), Sanath Jayasuriya (13430) and Kumar Sangakkara (12918). Incidentally Jayawardene is the slowest to do so, taking 399 innings. Jayasuriya (379) held the previous record.
Umesh Yadav (4-53) returned his best figures in ODIs, bettering 3-32 against West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 2013.
Shikhar Dhawan (91) completed his 2,000 ODI runs. He became 23rd Indian to achieve this milestone. By taking 48 innings, Dhawan is now the quickest among Indians to accomplish this feat.
Virat Kohli (53), on 50, completed his 6,000 runs in ODIs. By taking only 136 innings Kohli became the quickest to reach this mark, wresting the record from Viv Richards, who took 141 innings to do so.
The win gave India an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series. With this India kept their record intact of not losing to Sri Lanka in a bilateral series at home.
India have now not lost to Sri Lanka in a bilateral series (home or away) in more than 17 years. The last time India suffered a series defeat by Sri Lanka was in 1997 when Sri Lanka beat India 3-0. Since then India have won seven series, while two series ended as drawn.
