Mohali, India (AP) Rohit Sharma hit his third double hundred in ODI cricket Wednesday as India beat Sri Lanka by 141 runs and leveled the three-match series at 1-1.
Riding Sharma’s 208 not out, India scored 392-4 and later restricted Sri Lanka to 251-8. Angelo Mathews’ knock of 111 not out went in vain.
Chasing an improbable 393, Sri Lanka made a poor start and lost openers Danushka Gunathilaka (16) and Upul Tharanga (7) early.
The visitors were reduced to 62-3 when Washington Sundar (1-65) bowled Upul Tharanga (7) in the 16th over.
Mathews found support in Niroshan Dickwella (22) and put on 53 runs with him for the fourth wicket. Later, he added 44 runs with Asela Gunaratne (34) for the fifth wicket.
Yuzvendra Chahal (3-60) accounted for both Dickwella and Gunaratne, extinguishing any hopes of an unlikely chase.
Mathews reached his second ODI hundred off 122 balls, but didn’t get much support from the lower order to even have a go at the target.
That was after Sharma hit 13 fours and 12 sixes off 153 balls. His 208 runs was the highest individual ODI score in Mohali, beating Virat Kohli’s 154 not out against New Zealand in 2016.
Sharma’s two earlier double hundreds were 209 against Australia in Bengaluru in 2013 and 264 against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in 2014.
Put into bat, Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan (68) put on 115 runs for the first wicket. Dhawan fell to Sachith Pathirana (1-63) in the 22nd over after scoring his 23rd ODI half-century off 47 balls.
Thereafter, Sharma and Shreyas Iyer (88) put on 213 runs. It was the highest second wicket stand at the ground in Mohali, improving on 173 runs by Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir against Pakistan in 2007.
Sharma reached his half-century off 65 balls. Iyer then scored his maiden ODI half-century off 50 balls. Together, they pushed India past 300 in the 44th over.
The stand-in skipper then scored his 16th ODI century off 115 balls. He is now fourth in the list of all-time Indian batsmen in terms of hundreds, after Tendulkar (49), Kohli (32) and Sourav Ganguly (22).
Iyer fell in the 46th over, caught in the deep off Thisara Perera (3-80). The latter also accounted for MS Dhoni (7), trapping him lbw two overs later.
Sharma, at the other end, unleashed a plethora of sixes as he scored the next hundred runs off only 36 balls. He got to the milestone off 151 balls.
Eighty-one runs came in the last five overs. That was the highest ODI total at the ground in Mohali after South Africa’s 351-5 in 2011. India’s previous highest total was 321-9 against Pakistan in 2007.
Pic: Hindustan Times
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