India rode on Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane’s centuries to humiliate Sri Lanka in the first of the five one-dayers that are scheduled to be played. It was India’s second biggest win on the home soil as they crushed the Lankans to a 169-run defeat.
Image source: espncricinfo
Batting first India put a mammoth total of 363/5, thanks to Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane who gave India a perfect start. They made a cautious start and were scoring at a lower rate than expected. But they made it up as soon as the ball got a bit older. Dhawan scored 113 off 107 deliveries while Rahane scored 111 off 108 balls to set up India’s such a huge total. Suresh Raina scored 52 as he became only the 12th Indian to play in 200 one-day internationals for India.
Sri Lanka never looked like capable of chasing down such a target in spite of having Tilekaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in their ranks. Indian bowlers also bowled well as they never let the Lankans dominate the proceeding. And the inevitable happened when Sri Lanka lost their last wicket on the score of 194.
It was a great win for India for they had rested Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami in the series. Virat Kohli however had little to do for his batsmen had his job half done even before the match had proceeded into its mature stages. But he showed glimpses of his capabilities as a captain with his bowling changes and field placings. Overall it was just the perfect start to the series that India would have looked for.
Tags: Ajinkya Rahane india ODI series Shikhar Dhawan Sri Lanka
