Twitter Reactions: India continue to torment the Sri Lankans
The Indian bowlers cashed in as the Islanders were bundled for 207 runs, failing to last even 43 overs.
India continued their tremendous run on the Sri Lankan tour with another astounding victory. With this triumph, the Indian team leads the series 4-nil now as Sri Lanka stare a possible whitewash on Sunday. On the other hand, the visitors would be looking forward to finishing things in style with the lone T20I game left after the ODI series.
Earlier in the day, it was captain Virat Kohli who won the toss and for a surprise, he elected to bat first. India made three changes as Manish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur were drafted into the playing XI. Sri Lanka had a new captain again with Chamara Kapugedera injured as Lasith Malinga donned the skipper role.
Batting first, India lost Shikhar Dhawan early. However, what followed was carnage for the Sri Lankan bowlers. The duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli went on a hunting spree as they smashed every bowler at their will. Together they both put a magnificent 219 runs partnership for the second wicket.
Both posted centuries as India looked good enough to post 400. However, their dismissals made the run rate dip somewhat. Hardik Pandya couldn’t make full use of his promotion while KL Rahul continued to disappoint. From 225/1, India were reduced to 274/5.
MS Dhoni again stepped up to play a hand in the lower order, this time with Manish Pandey. Both combined for a quick unbeaten 101-run partnership for the sixth wicket as they took India to 375/5 at the end of 50 overs. Dhoni remained not out on 49* in his 300th ODI while Manish Pandey scored a half century.
For a team that has failed to go past 250 runs in the series so far, a target of 376 was way beyond their reach. Early into the innings, they were reduced to 68/4 with another top order failure. The only resilience shown in the Sri Lankan batting order was that by Angelo Mathews who scored a stupendous 70 runs and was the lone warrior for the hosts.
The Indian bowlers cashed in as the Islanders were bundled for 207 runs, failing to last even 43 overs. Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav all got a couple of wickets each. Debutant Shardul Thakur also managed to grab a scalp. Axar Patel got a wicket but was a touch expensive.
Here are some of the amazing Twitter reactions during the course of the game:
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