India's Virat Kohli celebrates his century against Sri Lanka. Photo / AP
India's Virat Kohli celebrates his century against Sri Lanka. Photo / AP
Virat Kohli scored his 46th ODI hundred to lead India past Sri Lanka and complete a 3-0 whitewash in the series.
Kohli hit 166 not out off 110 balls, his second-highest ODI score, as India reached 390-5 in 50 overs. Shubman Gill also scored his second ODI hundred.
In reply, Sri Lanka was scuttled out for 73 runs in 22 overs.
The resultant 317-run margin of victory was the biggest ever recorded in ODIs, smashing the previous record held by the Black Caps in their 290-run winning margin against Ireland in 2008.
India made a solid start after opting to bat. Gill put on 95 runs with skipper Rohit Sharma (42) for the first wicket.
Virat Kohli celebrates his century with Shreyas Iyer. Photo / AP
Kohli got to 50 off 48 balls with his century partnership with Gill coming off only 90 balls.
Later, he reached his ton off 85 balls. It was his 21st ODI hundred on Indian soil, the most by any batsman as he overtook Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 20 centuries.
It was also Kohli’s 10th ODI hundred against Sri Lanka, the most by any batsman against any team in this format.
Kohli stepped it up thereafter, scoring 50 off 21 balls, including six sixes. Overall, he hit 13 fours and eight sixes.
Kohli was named player of the match as well as player of the series.
“Ever since I came back from the long break, I have been feeling good. I don’t have the desperation to get to a milestone. I am enjoying my batting and trying to help the team as much as possible. I want this (run of form) to continue,” Kohli said, after the victory.
Shreyas Iyer scored 38 off 32 balls and added 108 off 71 balls with Kohli for the third wicket.
Compounding Sri Lanka’s misery, two of its fielders were stretchered off after a collision at the deep midwicket boundary in the 43rd over.
Jeffrey Vandersay and Ashen Bandara both dived for the ball before colliding. They were both taken to a local hospital for scans.
Dunith Wellalage took Vandersay’s place as a concussion substitute while Bandara was replaced by Dhananjaya de Silva as a fielding substitute.
Sri Lankan batting folded meekly in reply to India’s mammoth total as Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami bowled belligerent opening spells, sharing six wickets.
Siraj took 4-32 while Shami returned 2-20. The tourists reached just 39-5 after 10 overs with just two top-order batsmen – Nuwanidu Fernando (19) and Dasun Shanaka (11) – reaching double figures in the one-sided encounter.
