Visakhapatnam: Shikhar Dhawan (100 n o, 85b, 13×4,2×6) struck a sublime hundred in the nick of time as India delivered yet again in a series decider to beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the third ODI and record their eighth successive win in a bilateral contest.
India raced to the 216-run target in 32.1 overs with Dhawan completing his 12th ODI ton in what turned out to be the penultimate over of the match. During the course of his match-winning knock, Dhawan crossed the 4,000-run barrier in his 96th ODI.
Shreyas Iyer (65, 63b, 8×4, 1×6) played a significant knock, his second successive half century, but missed on the opportunity of scoring a hundred in a winning cause. Dinesh Karthik (26 n o) remained unbeaten alongside Dhawan and hit the winning runs.
The quick run chase came after a Sri Lankan collapse that saw them getting all out for 215 from a promising 160 for two. The visitors failed to apply themselves on a pitch that offered decent turn as Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (3/46) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/42) causing the damage.
With the professional performance, India won their sixth ODI series of the year and eighth in a row since July 2016. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, were consigned to yet another defeat in a rather miserable year in which they have won only five matches.
India skipper Rohit Sharma (seven) was not able to reproduce his Mohali magic here as he fell in the fourth over after hitting a huge six off Akila Dananjaya (1/53).The leggie got his googly to come in sharply and deceive Sharma much to the disappointment of the crowd.
Dhawan and Iyer made light of the early departure of their skipper and put on 135 runs in 19 overs to put India on the road to victory.
Earlier, Sri Lanka squandered a blistering start provided by Upul Tharanga (95, 82b, 12×4, 3×6). The wicket offered decent turn for the spinners but the visitors failed to apply themselves, losing the last five wickets in the space of 18 runs and the last eight for 55 runs.
Put in to bat, Sri Lanka were cruising with Tharanga and Sadeera Samarawickrama (42) sharing a 121-run stand for the second wicket after Danushka Gunathilaka (13) fell in the fourth over.
The opener, who missed out on a well-deserved ton, completed 1,000 runs for the calendar year during the course of the knock. Thereafter, it all went downhill for Sri Lanka.
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