India toy with sloppy Lanka again
Ton up Kohli and Sharma emerge heroes as Sri Lanka fail to seal direct qualification for 2019 World Cup
of 219 runs was broken.
Kohli’s century (131 – 17x4, 2x6) lifts him to third in the alltime list of ODI centurions. Only Sachin Tendulkar (49) and Ricky Ponting (30) are ahead.
India still briefly wobbled, but MS Dhoni in his 300th ODI showed there is plenty left of his finishing abilities with a third unbeaten knock (49 no) and an unbroken 101-run stand with Manish Pandey (50 no – 42 balls, 4x4), who marked his recall with his second ODI half-century.
COMMANDING KNOCK Kohli took 38 deliveries apiece for each fifty. The patent cover drives and wristy flicks were all there. He was unsure only twice, regaining crease after being sent back by Rohit and while awkwardly hooking Lasith Malinga for four to backward square leg.
Sri Lanka, already down 3-0, needed to win the last two games to ensure a direct berth for the 2019 World Cup, but they didn’t remotely seem like challenging India. It was a big relief for Sri Lanka when Kohli finally lofted Malinga, the stand-in skipper, to deep extra cover. It ended his wait for the 300th ODI wicket, but Malinga returned 1/82.
Sri Lanka made it 274 for five. Mathews had the promoted Hardik Pandya and Rohit caught off successive balls.
KL Rahul fell cheaply for the third time in his new role as middle-order batsman. But like the bowling shuffle, it didn’t matter. Dhoni, dropped on 25, showed the old firm can help paper over such blemishes against this opposition. He was the finisher of the innings as well as Sri Lanka’s feeble resistance with a stand, with Pandey.