India outplayed Sri Lanka in a clinical fashion on Sunday. After whitewashing the Test series 3-0, Virat Kohli's men continued their dominance in the limited overs format as well. India beat Sri Lanka on Sunday to take 1-0 lead in the five ODI series.
It was a combined team effort which saw India through. Sri Lanka after putting up a good display in the first 20 overs went downhill since. The Men in Blue chased down the lowly 216 the Island nation put up with 21 overs to spare. Shikhar Dhawan scored a quickfire ton off 71 balls. The special innings from India's Gabbar oozed confidence.
However, congratulations are in order for the spinners who did a great job in the first innings. Axar Patel was the pick of the bunch with three wickets to his credit.
India did not start in a flamboyant fashion after Rohit Sharma fell cheap for four runs. But, that proved to be the only blip in the chase as Shikhar looked in ominous touch.
He took on the aggressor's role to a T. The left-hander clubbed the Sri Lankan bowlers across the park. They had no answer to Shikhar's brilliance as the opener started dealing in boundaries against both the seamers and the spinners with equal ease.
Kohli, on the other end, looked good, enjoying Shikhar's show from the best seat in the house. Kohli also completed his half-century in the chase while Shikhar scored his ton in 71 balls, which also happened to be the fastest ton by an Indian player in Sri Lanka.
Shikhar remained not out on 132 while Kohli scored a well-made 82 runs before they reached the target.
Earlier, India, after winning the toss, decided to put Sri Lanka to bat. However, things did not look too good for India as the openers made a short work of Indian seamers after Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah failed to break through.
The first Sri Lankan wicket fell in the 14th over, with Yuzvendra Chahal sending back Danushka Gunathilaka. Sri Lanka looked good with Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis partnering up to pile on some quick runs.
But Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals after Dickwella got out for 64 runs. From 139 for 1, the home team bundled out for 216 all out.
Patel, Chahal and Kedar Jadhav bowled tight lines to hamstring Lanka.
Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has to watch the wickets falling on the other end and was eventually left stranded with Sri Lanka getting all out for 216 runs.
