India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd ODI Stats Review: Virat Kohli’s feat, Sri Lanka’s fourth-lowest total in ODIs, and other stats

Virat Kohli smashed yet another century, his 46^th in one-day internationals while Shubman Gill also struck 116 as India thrashed Sri Lanka by a massive margin of 317 runs in the third ODI in Thiruvananthapuram. Kohli hammered an unbeaten 166 off just 110 balls which included 13 fours and eight maximums as the Men in Blue registered the largest victory in terms of runs in the history of ODI cricket.

Speaking about how the game panned out, skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first. He amassed 42 off 49 but the youngster Gill kept on going. He brought up his second hundred in ODIs on his way to 116 off 97 with 14 fours and two sixes.

Shreyas Iyer scored 38 off 32 while there was just no one stopping Kohli. He hammered his tenth ton against the Lankan Lions as he became the first-ever batter to hit ten centuries against an opponent. Courtesy of Gill and Kohli, India reached a mammoth total of 390/5 in their allotted 50 overs. Pacers Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara picked up two scalps each but went for 81 and 87 runs respectively.

Chasing a massive target of 391, the visitors got bamboozled by the Indian bowlers especially seamer Mohammed Siraj. He registered figures of 4/32 in ten overs, his best in ODIs while Mohammed Shami and spinner Kuldeep Yadan grabbed two wickets each.

Not a single Lankan batter got going as the tourists failed miserably and got bowled out cheaply for just 73 in 22 overs. With this, team Indian clean swept Sri Lanka 3-0 and the attention now shifts to the New Zealand series beginning from January 18 in Hyderabad. Kohli won the Player of the Match and also the series award for hitting 283 runs in three outings.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 3^rd ODI between India and Sri Lanka:

21 – Virat Kohli has now smashed the most centuries (21) in ODIs on home soil. He surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 20 tons at home.

166* - Kohli registered his second-best score of 166* in one-day internationals. His knock of 183 against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2012 in Mirpur tops the chart.

10 – Kohli became the first batter to slam ten centuries against an opponent in the ODI format. Virat himself has nine tons against West Indies and Tendulkar also had nine against Australia.

317 – India recorded the largest victory (317 runs) in terms of runs in the history of ODI cricket. Previously, New Zealand thrashed Ireland by 290 runs in Aberdeen in 2008.

4/32 – Mohammed Siraj recorded his best figures of 4/32 in the format. Previously, he took 3/29 against the West Indies in Ahmedabad in 2022.

5 – Kohli is now tied with Tendulkar and Chris Gayle in the third spot for the most 150-plus scores (five) in the 50-overs format. Rohit Sharma (eight) and David Warner (six) are in the first two positions.

3 – Avishka Fernando got dismissed by Mohammed Siraj for the third consecutive time in the series. He managed to score only 26 runs in three outings, falling prey to Siraj each time.

5 – Run-machine Kohli is now the fifth-highest run-scorer with 12754 runs in the history of ODIs. He went past Mahela Jayawardene’s tally of 12650 runs. Tendulkar (18426), Kumar Sangakkara (14234), Ricky Ponting (13704), and Sanath Jayasuriya (13430) are in the top four positions.

73 – Sri Lanka scripted their fourth-lowest total (73) in one-day internationals. They got bundled out for 43 against South Africa in 2012, 55 against the West Indies in 1986, and 67 against England in 2014.

2 – Kohli hammered the second-fastest 150 by an Indian off 106 deliveries in an ODI. Ishan Kishan achieved the feat off 103 balls against Bangladesh in 2022.

8 – Classy Kohli struck eight maximums which are the most he has hit in an ODI innings. He smashed seven against Australia in an ODI in Jaipur in the year 2013.

4 – India registered their fourth-highest total of 390/5 against Sri Lanka. They smashed 414/7 in Rajkot in 2009, 404/5 in Kolkata in 2014, and 392/4 in Mohali in 2017.

21 – Kohli is now tied with Dhoni in the second spot for the most 50-plus scores (21) against the Lankan Lions in the format. Tendulkar is on top for hitting 25 such scores.

2503 – Kohli surpassed Dhoni to become the second-highest run-scorer with 2503 runs against Sri Lanka. Tendulkar leads the chart with 3113 runs to his name. Virat with 3927 runs also went past Inzamam-ul-Haq’s tally of 3824 runs against the Lankan Lions across formats in international cricket. Sachin again is in the first position with 5108 runs.