IND v SL 1st ODI: India continue dominance, thump SL by 9 wickets

Even the most optimistic of the Indian fans would not have hoped India would continue to dismiss Sri Lanka’s presence in the ODIs like they did in the longest format of the game. But they and the enthusiastic crowd that turned up for the 1st ODI at Dambulla were in for another shock.

Only colour of the clothes and the ball changed, but not the one-sided contest that the series had been witnessing. India at first took 9 wickets for 77 runs to bowl Sri Lanka out for 216 and then Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli made such a mockery of the target that even the live scorers were gasping for breath. The Men in Blue reached home in 28.4 overs with 8 batsmen still waiting in the hut. 

For the record this is India’s biggest win terms of balls to spare.

Dhawan, who by now must be planning to invest or start a business in Sri Lanka carried his Red ball cricket form to the ODIs by registering his 11th century, went on to score 132 off 90 balls at a mind boggling strike rate of 146.66

For once Kohli at the other end happily took the backstage but even then he scored at a strike rate of 117.4 on his way an unbeaten 82. Together the duo put on an unbroken 197-run stand for the second wicket. 

Earlier it was the Indian spin troika of Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel and Kedar Jadhav ran through the Sri Lankan middle order to bowl them out for 216.

It looked like a good toss to lose for Sri Lanka as openers Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka gave them a perfect start by stitching a 74 run partnership just shy under a run a ball. 

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