New Delhi:
Sri Lanka was in majestic form on Thursday as their batsmen clobbered Indian bowlers all over the park to clinch a 7 wicket victory. A rersurgent batting performance from the Islanders' batsmen Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis helped their team overcome some spirited bowling from India's new ball bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav.
Bhuvneshwar scalped Niroshan Dickwella early, but the other Sri Lankan batsmen didn't let the loss hamper them. India ran out Gunathilaka and 'Man of the Match' Kusal Mendis after they hit brilliant half centuries.
Danushka Gunathilaka (76 off 72 balls) and Kusal Mendis (89 off 93) added 159 runs to lay the platform before skipperAngelo Mathews (52 no off 44 balls) coolly finished off thejob in company of Kusal Janith Perera (47 retired hurt) and Asela Gunaratne (34 no off 21 balls).
🎥🇱🇰 See all of the India wickets fall here, with @OfficialSLC bowlers sharing the spoils earlier in the day #INDvSL #CT17 pic.twitter.com/tu14tXfkdQ
— ICC (@ICC) June 8, 2017
Arguably, the biggest upset of the tournament also threwthe group wide open with all four teams ? India, Pakistan,South Africa and Sri Lanka in with a chance to qualify.
India must now beat South Africa on Sunday in order to qualify for the semifinals. For India, the 103 runs conceded by Hardik Pandya (51 off7 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (52 off 6 overs) in 13 overs tilted the game decisively in favour of Lankans on what was a batting belter where a target of 322 looked par for the course.
Earlier, Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and invited India to bat on a seam-friendly track at Oval in London.
The Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma started off cautiously against the Lankan seamers but eventually broke loose.
Dhawan and Sharma forged a good opening stand to build a strong foundation for India. Dhawan got to his 10th ODI ton.
A superb 89 from @KusalMendis1 wins him Player of the Match for #INDvSLhttps://t.co/3VzGviqIok #INDvSL #CT17 pic.twitter.com/kXdgAqHdLB
— ICC (@ICC) June 8, 2017
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma contributed handsomely with a well made 78.
A memorable chase by Sri Lanka keeps their #CT17 hopes alive as they beat India by 7 wickets in a thriller!https://t.co/3VzGviqIok #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/0uQXq8XTio
— ICC (@ICC) June 8, 2017
Malinga eventually broke the Indian resistance by scalping Rohit Sharma. Nuwan Pradeep pegged the Indians back by scalping the skipper Virat Kohli for a duck.
Yuvraj Singh didn't last long as he fell cheaply to Asela Gunaratne for seven. India's ace finisher MS Dhoni then joined Shikhar Dhawan to step up the run rate with a flurry of boundaries. Dhawan eventually fell to Mallinga for a scintillating 127.
Dhoni then combined with Kedhar Jadhav to step up the gas in the last five overs to power India to an imposing 321 total. However, in the end, it was Sri Lanka which came out trumps in the match.
