By Fathima Zanaida
HAMBANTOTA
(TheSportsNext) July 22, 2012: A clinical Virat Kohli struck his third
straight hundred against Sri Lanka as India drew first blood in the One Day
International series with 21-run comfortable victory over the Islanders at
Hambantota on Saturday.
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| Virat Kohli |
Chasing 315 runs for victory, Sri Lankan innings was
culminated at 293/9 from 50 overs, thus falling 21 runs shy of the mountainous Indian
total.
Virat Kohli, who is enjoying best form of his career, not
only hit 106 runs from just 113 deliveries with the help of 12 boundaries but
also developed a match-winning 173-run partnership for second wicket with
Virender Sehwag.
Virender Sehwag was unfortunate to have missed out on a
classy century as he was run out by Thisara Perera on 96 but he had already set
the foundation of a huge score in company of young and fiery Virat Kohli.
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| Virat Kohli |
Gautam Gambhir (3 from 6) was bowled around his legs by
Nuwan Kulasekara early in the innings which put Indians in some sort of
pressure but Virat Kohli and Virender Sehwag put their heads down and made them
accustomed to the ground conditions and took their time in the initial part of
their innings.
Sri Lankan bowling was of poor quality but their fielding
was worst as they dropped too many catches and there were a number of fumbles
in the field. Virender Sehwag was given a life by Tillakaratne Dilshan when he
was yet to score a run and the Indian opener belted Sri Lankan bowlers all
across the field to make it a costly miss.
The pair flourished as soon as they got used to the pace of
the pitch and started hitting Sri Lankan bowlers at will as they took India
from 7 for one to 180 for two in the 32nd over, a perfect launch-pad
for the likes of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni.
Rohit Sharma (5 from 8) failed to provide India the impetus
but Suresh Raina (50 from 43 – 3 fours, 1 six) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni
(35 from 29 – 3 fours, 1 six) smashed Sri Lankan bowlers all across the park as
the Indian team amassed 64 runs from the final six overs of their innings.
Nuwan Kulasekara was made to leave the field after
attracting a groin injury which made him to bowl only half of his spell during which
he captured one wicket for just 20 runs.
Sri Lanka’s top fast bowler Lasith Malinga proved too
expensive once again against India as he leaked 83 runs from his 10 overs while
Angelo Mathews (10-0-58-1), Thisara Perera (10-0-70-3), and Rangana Herath
(10-0-52-0) also lacked quality and skills to restrict the Indians.
In the end, India amassed a huge total of 314 runs which
demanded some doing to get chased down.
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| Kumar Sangakkara |
Chasing a 300-plus target required Sri Lanka to get off to a
flier but what they got was a poor one as left-arm medium-pacer Irfan Pathan
got rid of Tillakaratne Dilshan (6 from 6 – 1 four) early in the innings which
put extra pressure on the Sri Lankan batsman.
Upal Tharanga (28 from 47 – 2 fours) fought battle of his
survival before losing his wicket to Ravichandran Ashwin as Sri Lanka were
reduce to two for 86 in the 19th over.
However, Sri Lanka’s Man of Crisis Kumar Sangakkara (133
from 151 – 12 fours) once again rose his game and came to the rescue of the
home side as despite of losing Dinesh Chandimal (13 from 19 – 1 four), skipper
Mahela Jayawardene (12 from 8 – 1 four), Angelo Mathews (7 from 17), and Lahiru
Thirimanne (7 from 10), he stayed upright and kept one end occupied.
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| Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Mahela Jayawardene |
Sangakkara kept doing his work till he was joined by Thisara
Perera (44 from 28 – 3 fours, 1 six) and the pair added 78 valuable runs for
the seventh wicket and got their team back in the contention.
Kumar Sangakkara completed his 14th ODI hundred
in style but in a bid to achieve the difficult run-rate that had shot above 15
runs per over, the left-hand batsman decided to take the long route but lost
his stumps during the process to Umesh Yadav who savored a rather frustrating
day with the ball.
Irfan Pathan then put an end to Perera’s resilience and in
the end Sri Lankans could only managed 293 for nine from their 50 overs.
Zaheer Khan, who was making a comeback in the team, went for
63 runs from his 10 overs and took one wicket while Umesh Yadav and Pragyan
Ojha also failed to shine with the ball with figures of 10-0-76-2 and 6-0-44-1,
respectively. However, Irfan Pathan (10-1-37-2) and Ravichandran Ashwin
(10-1-46-2) put the ball in right areas to get purchase out of the surface.
Virat Kohli was declared Man of the Match for his
match-winning hundred, his 12th in One Day International career.
Virat Kohli is the fastest man to score 12 centuries in ODIs and it was his
third straight hundred against Sri Lanka after achieving the feat in Hobart and
Dhaka earlier this year.
Hambantota will also host the second One Day International
scheduled for Tuesday.
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