India beat Sri Lanka in the first ODI by a massive 169 runs in Cuttack on Sunday.
In reply to India’s mammoth 360, Sri Lanka opened their innings with Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan. The first 5 overs yielded 22 runs with no wicket taken. Just when the going begun to slow down, Dilshan lost the plot and lost his wicket, at the hands of Yadav for 18 in the 9th over. Sangakkara joined the chase and upped the tempo as soon as he got in. However, he perished soon, taken by Ishant Sharma for 13 in the 14th over, reducing the score to 64/2, bringing the required run rate up to 8.33.
Jayawardene was the new man in and it was announced that Varun Aaron had pulled a muscle and wouldn’t be available for the rest of the match. Just when Jayawardene began to ease things out, Tharanga was dismissed in the 17th over, taken by Ashwin for 28. Prasanna was the new man in and by the 20th over, the score was 109/3. He didn’t last too long, as he departed in the 21st over, deceived by Patel for 5. Angelo Mathews walked in and by the end of the 25th over, the score was 130/4.
The next Sri lankan casualty was Jayawardene, who was taken by Patel for a well-made 43. This brought Priyanjan to the middle, but wickets kept falling from the other end, and the next victim was Mathews, who was taken by Raina for 23 in the 31st over. Priyanjan fell in quick succession, in the 34th over, done in by Sharma for 12, taking the score to 173/4. The run rate had climbed to 11.93. The 36th over saw Ishant Sharma deliver a twin blow: Prasad (0), Randiv (5) and a maiden over to boot. Gamage and Perera took charge when the score was 183/9. Perera was the last nail in the coffin, hit by Yadav for 29 in the 40th over, as Sri Lanka was bundled out for 194.
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first. Openers Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan walked into the field to open the Indian account. The first one was a cracker of an over that yielded just 3 runs, the second one being a maiden. Prasad’s second over was when Dhawan began to let loose his aggressive side and that’s when the Indian onslaught began. In the first 10 overs, the Indian score was 43/0. Rahane and Dhawan were mixing it well, with one every conceding a boundary and a couple of singles.
At the end of the 15th over, India was at 69/0, and till the 20th over, things were relatively quiet. In the 21st over, bowled by Randiv, the Indian hit two 4s and one 6, bringing up both the openers’ half century. The next over, Dhawan smashed two 4s and the 25th over was massive. Three 4s later, the score was 145/0 at the end of the 25th over.
The openers continued tormenting the Sri Lankan bowling attack, that was looking far from fit. The 4s and 6s were flowing in consistently,k and at the end of the 30th over, the score was 195/0. Rahane brought up his century in the 32nd over, while Dhawan followed suit in the 33rd. The last time both the Indian openers scored a century was ages ago in 2003!
Dhawan perished in the 35th over, dismissed by Priyanjan for 113, bringing in Raina, who was featuring in his 200th ODI. Rahane too departed soon after in the 38th over, done in by Randiv for 111. The score was 247/2. This brought Virat Kohli into the middle. The 40th over saw Raina just blitz Perera that saw 20 runs been given. Raina walked back to the pavillion as soon as he reached his half century, taken by Randiv for 52.
Rayudu joined Kohli in the middle, but the latter departed in the 46th over, after having scored 22, before being derailed by Randiv. It was now left to Rayudu and Saha, but thre former perished for 27 in the 49th over. The last over saw Patel smash two 6s, taking the score to 360/5.
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