Kohli ton powers India to big ODI win over SL

GUWAHATI, India: Virat Kohli smashed a brilliant attacking century to set up a convincing 67-run win for India in the opening one-day international against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

Kohli hammered 113 off 87 balls to drive India to 373-7 after they were invited to bat first at the start of the three-match series in Guwahati.

Skipper Rohit Sharma (83) and fellow opener Shubman Gill (70) put on 143 runs to lay the foundations of the mammoth total.

The bowlers, led by Mohammed Siraj, then restricted Sri Lanka to 306-8 to give India a 1-0 lead in the series.

Skipper Dasun Shanaka top-scored with an unbeaten 108 after opening batsman Pathum Nissanka hit 72 but the knocks could only reduce the margin of loss for the tourists.

Kohli, who survived two dropped catches on 52 and 81, stood out with his 45th ODI hundred and 73rd across all formats as he let out a roar and took off his helmet to bask in the stadium’s applause.

He finally fell to third-time-lucky quick Kasun Rajitha, who was also bowling when wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis and Shanaka dropped the star batsman.

Gill hit three successive boundaries off debutant left-arm quick Dilshan Madushanka in the fourth over and Rohit smashed two sixes and a four off Rajitha to begin the charge on a batting-friendly pitch.

Rohit, who returned to captain the side after missing India’s 2-1 T20I series win, reached his fifty with a four and Gill raised his half-century a short time later.

Gill took on Dunith Wellalage with three successive fours in one over before he fell lbw in the next to Shanaka’s medium-pace bowling.

Rohit attempted to keep up the attack with regular boundaries but Madushanka cut short his knock with a length ball that bowled the Indian skipper off an inside edge.

Score Board

Sri lanka won the toss

India Innings

Rohit (c) b Madushanka 83

Shubman lbw b Shanaka 70

Virat c †Mendis b Rajitha 113

Shreyas c Fernando b Silva 28

Rahul † b Rajitha 39

Pandya c PWH de Silva b Rajitha 14

Axar c Fernando b Karunaratne 9

Shami not out 4

Siraj not out 7

Extras: (lb 1, w 5) 6

Total: 50 Ov (RR: 7.46) 373/7

Did not bat: Yuzvendra Chahal, Umran Malik

Fall of wickets: 1-143, 2-173, 3-213, 4-303, 5-330, 6-362, 7-364

Bowling: Kasun Rajitha 10-0-88-3, Dilshan Madushanka 6-0-43-1, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva 10-0-67-0, Chamika Karunaratne 8-0-54-1, Dunith Wellalage 8-0-65-0, Dasun Shanaka 3-0-22-1, Dhananjaya de Silva 5-0-33-1

Sri Lanka Innings

Nissanka c Patel b Umran Malik 72

Avishka c Pandya b Siraj 5

Mendis † b Siraj 0

Asalanka c †Rahul b Umran Malik 23

Silva c †Rahul b Shami 47

Shanaka (c) not out 108

Hasaranga de Silva c Iyer b Chahal 16

Dunith c Shubman b Umran 0

Karunaratne c Sharma b Pandya 14

Kasun Rajitha not out 9

Extras: (lb 3, w 9) 12

Total: 50 Ov (RR: 6.12) 306/8

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-23, 3-64, 4-136, 5-161, 6-178, 7-179, 8-206

Bowling: Mohammed Shami 9-0-67-1, Mohammed Siraj 7-1-30-2, Hardik Pandya 6-0-33-1, Umran Malik 8-0-57-3, Yuzvendra Chahal 10-0-58-1, Axar Patel 10-0-58-0

Match Result: India won by 67 runs

Player of the match: Virat Kohli

Umpires: Anil Chaudhary, Nitin Menon