Sharma Century Guides India To Important Win

Sharma Century Guides India To Important Win

Rohit Sharma scored his second century in three days to guide India to victory by seven wickets.

©Action Images / Jason Cairnduff

India 243-3 (Sharma 101no, Kohli 81) beat
Sri Lanka 242 (Mathews 75, Dilshan 61) by seven wickets
Tri-series One-Day International, Bulawayo
Scorecard

Rohit Sharma scored his second century of the series and unlike his first effort against Zimbabwe, this time it helped India win as they defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their tri-series One-Day International in Bulawayo.

Having been beaten by six wickets in that opening game, India needed to hit back to retain their hopes of making the final and they were able to do so thanks to a vastly improved all-round display.

They bowled Sri Lanka out for 242 before Sharma's unbeaten 101 helped them reach their victory target with more than six overs to spare.

After winning the toss and choosing to bowl, India struck early to remove Upul Tharanga (1) and Thilan Samaraweera (19) before Sri Lanka hit back with half-centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan (61) and Angelo Mathews (75) pushing them along at a healthy rate.

Dilshan hit four fours and a six in 84 balls while Mathews faced 95 balls with two fours and two sixes but the innings unravelled once those two were dismissed and from 150 for three, they lost seven wickets for 92 runs.

Chamara Silva made just five on his latest recall as Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha and Ravi Jadeja all picked up two wickets.

Although Indian openers Murali Vijay (18) and Dinesh Karthik (14) failed to impress, the rest of their batting line-up delivered, Virat Kohli stroking 82 in 92 balls and Sharma hitting six fours and two sixes in his 101-ball innings and the pair shared a stand worth 154 to take the score past 200 and the game away from Sri Lanka.

Captain Suresh Raina adding the finishing touches with a swift unbeaten 24 to complete a resounding win.

Sri Lanka next take on Zimbabwe on Tuesday (1st June) before India meet the hosts again two days afterwards when the tournament moves on to Harare.

© Cricket World 2010

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