Indian batsmen shone in India’s thumping victory over Sri Lanka in the One-Day series decider at Vizag as hosts registered an 8-wicket win. Shikhar Dhawan was the pick of the batsmen, who was well supported by Shreyas Iyer with another half-century.
Chasing 216, India got an early setback with the wicket of last match’s double centurion Rohit Sharma, Akila Dhananjaya bettered him with his spin and bowled him. Then Iyer joined Dhawan in the middle and scored runs at will. Both scored 135 runs for the second wicket and took India from any further hiccups. In the process, Mumbai lad backed his 88 in Mohali with an eye-pleasing 65 in Vishakhapatnam and registered his name in the musical chare game of number 4 position in ODI setup.
Dhawan played several glorious shots during his 12th ODI hundred and notched up his 4000 ODI runs, thus became the second fastest for India after Virat Kohli. Dinesh Karthik remained unbeaten at 26 with the southpaw and cruised India’s ship to victory. In the series-winning victory, Team India chased down the score in just 32.1 overs and registered a 2-1 series win.
With yet another series win, Indian concluded their 2017 on high at ODI arena as they haven’t lost any bilateral series throughout the year. Only a defeat in the final of Champions Trophy against archrival Pakistan would have been icy on the cake for number one Test team.
