India dominated Sri Lanka by winning the first ODI by 9 wickets played at Rangiri International Stadium, Dambulla. Despite Sri Lanka got off to a good start, the rest of batting order failed and were dismissed for 216. The Indian team chased down the target with dominating display by Dhawan and Kohli.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field at Dambulla earlier today. Sri Lankan openers Dickwella and Gunathilkha played positive cricket putting pressure on the Indian bowlers. At the end of first 10 overs, Sri Lankan openers scored 55 runs. Both openers continued to play the Indian bowlers with ease. Yuzvendra Chahal got the breakthrough by dismissing Gunathilkha ending a 74 runs opening stand.
After that Dickwella and Kusal Mendis continued to put pressure on the Indian bowlers with aggressive hitting. The left-handed batsman completed his fifty in 65 balls. When things were going strong for Sri Lanka, Kedar Jadhav took the wicket of well settled Dickwella for 64. Both Mendis and Dickwella added 65 runs for the second wicket. It was a poor display of batting by Sri Lanka losing wickets at regular intervals. Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kedar Jadhav stopped the flow of runs, also taking wickets. Angelo Mathews remained not out on 36 as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 216 in 43.2 overs. Axar Patel was the pick of bowlers with 3 wickets while Bumrah, Kedar Jadhav, Chahal picked 2 wickets each and Kapugedra was run out.
Chasing the target of 217, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma added 23 runs in 4.5 overs before the right handed batsman was dismissed in unfortunate run out for 4 runs. Shikhar Dhawan looked in special form scoring fours at will. At the end of first 10 overs, India scored 64 runs. Both batsmen played with aggressive intent smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers. Dhawan completed his fifty in 36 balls while Kohli also dominated the hosts. It was his 3rd century in the Sri Lankan tour so far, completing his century in 71 balls. Kohli completed his half century off 50 balls. India won the match by 9 wickets with 127 balls to spare.
India 220 for 1 in 28.5 overs ( Shikhar Dhawan 132*, Virat Kohli 82*) beat Sri Lanka 216 in 43.2 overs ( Dickwella 64, Mathews 36*, Axar Patel 3/34) by 9 wickets.
Captain Virat Kohli said: Sri Lanka got off to good start and thought they would score 300 as the pitch was good to bat on. Dhawan has been in the last three months. With the World Cup 2019, you can see a lot of changes from now on.
Man of the match Shikhar Dhawan said: It has been great going for me as I have focussed on the mental process. It was a good pitch to bat on and wanted to play positively.
India leads the series 1-0. The second ODI will be played at Palleke on 24th August.
