Ishant Sharma claimed four wickets and Akshar Patel two as India produced an emphatic all-round performance to thrash Sri Lanka by 169 runs in the first One-Day International (ODI) at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttak. After setting up a mammoth target of 364 runs, India bowled out Sri Lanka for 194 in 39.2 overs.
Mahela Jayawardene scored 43, the only bright spot for Sri Lanka in their chase. The visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals, which hampered their chances in this game. India’s win by 169 runs is their second biggest in terms of runs against Sri Lanka.
Chasing a target as huge as this one would have always been a big task for Sri Lanka, but with their batting order consisting of the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews, one would have backed them to give India a good fight. But on the day it was not meant to be.
Experienced opener Upul Tharanga looked completely out of sorts, consistently troubled by India’s new ball bowlers. He was hit on the body a couple of times, and was beaten outside the off-stump as well.
Sri Lanka did not get the start they would’ve liked. The first run came off an inside edge, and with Tharanga struggling and Tillakaratne Dilshan hitting a couple of fours, Sri Lanka did not get the momentum early on. Maybe they went about their job thinking of preserving the wickets early on and then launching an attack after setting up a platform, but that was not meant to be so.
Dilshan was removed by Umesh Yadav and his wicket in the ninth over sent bit of panic in the Sri Lankan line-up. Tharanga by then had managed only eight runs from as many as 31 balls, and Sri Lanka needed some momentum in the middle. Kumar Sangakkara walked in at No. 3 and alongwith Tharanga, he did add a few runs but a probing delivery by Ishant Sharma in the 14th over ended his stay at the crease.
Mahela Jayawardene walked in but Sri Lanka were soon jolted by Ravichandran Ashwin as he got rid of the struggling Tharanga in the 17th over. The tourists tried to experiment as they had promised, by promoting Seekkuge Prasanna. But the move failed as the bowling all-rounder could not make much of difference and was dismissed by Akshar Patel in the 22nd over. But amid this fall of wickets from one end, Jayawardene tried to take the scoring rate a little higher by playing a quickfire knock.
The veteran batsman looked in good form as he scored runs on both sides of the wicket, garnering 43 off 36 balls with the help of six boundaries and a six. But in the 26th over, Patel lured Jayawardene to drive a loose ball and the batsman ended up giving a simple catch to the Indian skipper Virat Kohli, standing at covers.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews, who has bailed his side out of trouble couple of times in the past, failed this time around as he ended up giving a simple catch to Patel, off Suresh Raina in the 31st over. The remainder of Sri Lankan batsmen could not make any significant contributions, as India completed a fine win to start this series on a positive note.
Earlier in the game, Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan slammed centuries as India set a huge 364–run target against Sri Lanka. Rahane smashed his second century in ODI cricket and first at home, whereas Dhawan completed his sixth ton as the two batsmen added as many as 231 runs for the first wicket to help India get off an extremely strong start in the game as well as in the five-match series.
India piled up 363 for five in their allotted 50 overs, with Rahane and Dhawan getting centuries and Suresh Raina smashing a quickfire half-century to stamp their authority over the tourists.
Brief scores:
India 363 for 5 in 50 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 111, Shikhar Dhawan 113, Suresh Raina 52; Suraj Randiv 3 for 78) beat Sri Lanka 194 in 39.2 overs (Mahela Jayawardene 43; Ishant Sharma 4 for 34, Akshar Patel 2 for 24) by 169 runs.
Man of the Match: Ajinkya Rahane
India maul Sri Lanka by 169 runs in 1st ODI at Cuttack
