Sri Lanka chased down their highest total in ODI cricket to stun favourites India at The Oval and make the Group B wide open. After being set a target of 322, the Lankans, riding on the brilliant batting performance of the young duo Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Perera, finished the chase with 7wickets and eight balls to spare.
Indians got off to a steady start after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl first on the placid wicket which offered no support to the bowlers.
Dhawan continued his good form and hammered 125 off 128 balls today and along with Rohit Sharma (78) added 138 for the first wicket before the latter became the first wicket to fall today. The Dhawan – Sharma show set the stage for MS Dhoni (63) to contribute a solid knock and help India a solid total on the board.
This loss is a major jolt for the Indian team as they lost an opportunity to qualify for the semi-finals. Skipper Virat Kohli was unhappy with his side’s showing today.
Here is what he had to say:
“We felt we had enough on the board, we trusted out bowlers, but Sri Lanka were pretty good. They kept the momentum through the innings, they picked their areas to hit and executed really well,” Kohli says, “There’s always hindsight. I thought we bowled decently. But when you don’t execute properly, there is always food for thought. Here you have to give credit to the other team. In a tournament like this especially.”
Sri Lanka’s chase began on a bad note as opener Niroshan Dickwella went back to the pavilion in the 5th over. Things continued to remain slow for a short while as the new pair of Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis took the time to settle down before going in to add 159 runs stand between Gunathilaka and Mendis which was built in 23.1 overs.
Skipper Angelo Mathews (52) and Kusal Perera (47) later added the finishing touch and ensured that India were both able to make any sort of comeback into the game.