India won the fifth and the final ODI at the R. Premdasa Stadium on Sunday Virat Kohli scored his 30th ODI hundred in the match India is now the first team to whitewash Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli with the bat and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar with the ball helped India inflict a 5-0 series whitewash to Sri Lanka. India won the fifth and the final ODI at the R. Premdasa Stadium on Sunday, September 3. Some analysts and fans were left wondering as to why the series was played at all.
Sri Lanka put 239 runs on the board for India to chase. While Lankan players like Upul Tharanga (48), Lahiru Thirmanne (67) and Angelo Mathews (55) tried scoring runs for the home team, they were no match for the onslaught of the Indian bowlers, led by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. Bhuvaneshwar returned with five wickets for 42 runs and received the man-of-the-match for his feat.
Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and leg-spinner Yazuvendra Chahal ably assisted Bhuvaneshwar by stemming the runs in the middle overs and picking a wicket each.
The Indian opening pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma could not do much and in came Virat Kohli with Manish Pandey. Pandey scored 36 before getting out. Kedar Jadhav contributed with a quick-fire 63 and shared a 109-run stand with Virat Kohli.
Kohli played a captain’s knock. He scored an unbeaten 110, his 30th ODI hundred. He has now equaled former Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s tally of 30 centuries. This is his eight century against Sri Lanka and 19th while chasing down a total. At Kohli’s agae, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar had only 16 ODI centuries to his name.
Kohli is very happy with his side’s performance. "It will be a challenging series against Australia. We have been playing some good and consistent cricket for some time. So, this series win in Sri Lanka should boost the confidence the boys," said the Indian captain.
Death-overs specialist Jasprit Bumrah was awarded the man-of-the-series. "It's my first visit to Sri Lanka and I'm glad I did well. I was focussing on my preparation, I had time to rest before this series and it makes you hungry," he said.
India is now the first team to whitewash Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.
