5 stand out performers of the India vs Sri Lanka ODI series
In the recently concluded three-match ODI series between India and Sri Lanka (SL), the home team defeated the visitors 2-1, and won their eighth consecutive bilateral ODI series. In the absence of Virat Kohli, stand-in captain Rohit Sharma led the team to victory.
The journey towards the trophy was not easy, as the Indians were convincingly defeated by the Lankans in the first ODI played at Dharamsala. But team India bounced back strongly, and won the second ODI played at Mohali by 141 runs.
By virtue of a complete all round performance, the Indian team defeated Sri Lanka in the series decider played at Vizag, and clinched the series 2-1.
There were many commendable performances in the series, both with the bat and the ball. Here we will look at the five players who stood apart from the rest in the series.
5. Rohit Sharma
The “Hitman” carried his great form from the test series to the ODI series, and was at his very best, especially in the Mohali ODI.
Sharma’s batting was not up to the mark in the Dharamsala ODI, where he could manage to score just 2 runs, before he lost his wicket to Suranga Lakmal. But in the second ODI played at Mohali, he replied to his critics strongly by scoring a double hundred. He reached the hundred-run mark in the 40th over of the innings, at a strike rate of 86.95.
But it did not take much time for the skipper to shift his gears, as he started dealing only with boundaries. He scored the other half of the double century in just 36 balls at a strike rate of 277.77. At the end of the innings, Sharma remained unbeaten on 208 of 153 deliveries, including 13 fours and 12 sixes.
Sharma became the only batsman in the history of the game to have scored three ODI double hundreds. He ended up as the leading run scorer of the series, with 217 runs in three innings at an average of 120.56