Shikhar Dhawan celebrates after scoring his 12th ODI century

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

India secured their eighth successive ODI series win after opener Shikhar Dhawan thumped an unbeaten 100 to lead the team to an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the third ODI in Visakhapatnam.

During his superb knock, Dhawan also became the sixth-fastest cricketer in history to accumulate 4,000 ODI runs. In terms of Indian players, he is the second-fastest to the milestone behind current captain Virat Kohli.

Being put in to bat first, Sri Lanka did not get off to a great start as opener Danushka Gunathilaka was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah for 13.

However, Upul Tharanga and Sadeera Samarawickrama made up for the early loss of Gunathilaka with a 121-run partnership, during which Tharanga sailed past his fifty.

But, just as Samarawickrama was eight runs away from his own half-century, he was removed by Yuzvendra Chahal.

Tharanga went on to score 95 off 82 balls, which included 12 boundaries and three sixes, before he was stumped by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav.

Upul Tharanga was Sri Lanka’s top-scorer with 95 runs

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Following Tharanga’s dismissal, Sri Lanka completely collapsed as they went from 160/3 to being bowled out for 215.

Kuldeep and Chahal picked up three wickets apiece, while Hardik Pandya took two, and Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar chipped in with one wicket each.

Chasing 216 to win, India lost stand-in captain Rohit Sharma in the fourth over as he was clean bowled by Akila Dananjaya for seven runs.

Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer steadied the ship with a 135-run stand, during which both batsmen registered their fifties, before Iyer was sent packing by stand-in captain Thisara Perera for 65, which came off 63 balls and included eight boundaries and a six.

Despite the loss of Iyer, Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik finished things off with an unbeaten 70-run partnership, during which Dhawan brought up his hundred.

Dhawan ended up making 100 off 85 balls, which included 13 boundaries and two sixes, while Karthik remained undefeated on 26 off 31 deliveries, which included three boundaries.

Dananjaya and Thisara claimed one wicket each.

Thisara was gutted to have lost the match, and said: “First match we won easily, a good chance to beat India in India, but we didn’t execute. We got a good start, but we couldn’t execute with our middle order. We have to think about the T20s, everything is past, we have to think about the present.”

Rohit was delighted to have won his first series as captain, and said: “Terrific comeback after the first match. We showed a lot of character, at one point, they had a run-rate of six. That has been a hallmark of this team, when we have been put under pressure, we’ve responded. The first game was testing as captain. The second game, we had enough runs, it was the perfect game for me to settle in as captain.”

Kuldeep edged out Dhawan for the Man of the Match award, and said: “We’re just looking for middle-order wickets. The wicket was good for spinners, we were getting sharp turn, that motivated me. It’s just about preparation and working on my fitness.”