Shikhar Dhawan scored an unbeaten ton as India won an emphatic eight-wicket win in the third and final ODI against Sri Lanka. Chasing 215, India won with 17.5 overs to spare and registered their eighth successive bilateral ODI series win. Lankans were never in the game despite getting Rohit Sharma for just 7. Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer continued to pulverise an attack that barely threatened. Iyer racked up his second successive half-century after a slow start and raced past Dhawan to get to the 50-run milestone first. The 135-run stand for the second wicket ensured that there were no hiccups for India in the chase. While Iyer fell for 65, Dhawan continued to raise the gears as India wrapped up the victory in style.
Earlier, Lankan opener Upul Tharanga scored an 82-ball 95 to lay a solid platform for the visitors after they were inserted by Rohit Sharma. But the Indian spinners - Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav – restricted their progress and bowled them out for just 215, losing their last eight wickets for just 55 runs.
India managed an early breakthrough as Danushka Gunathilaka was caught at mid in the fourth over of the day. However, that did not deter Sri Lanka as they roared back through Tharanga. The left-hander was particularly aggressive against Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. While the former was hit five boundaries in an over, the latter was repeatedly picked over the top through the vacant on-side area.
Giving him solid company was Sadira Samarawickrama, who too scored when the opportunity came by. The duo added 121 runs in just 113 balls as Sri Lanka threatened to match India's batting exploits from the previous game. After the pacers did not produce the desired result, Sharma turned to his spinners who managed to provide the magic turnaround.
In the second ODI, India crushed Lanka by 141 runs to level the series. Skipper Rohit Sharma scored 208 to anchor Indian innings. Shreyas Iyer (88) and Shikhar Dhawan (68) were other contributors. Angelo Mathews top-scored for Sri Lanka, while leg- spinner Yuzvendra (3/60) was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 215 all out (Upul Tharanga 95, Sadeera Samarawickrama 42; Kuldeep Yadav 3-42, Yuzvendra Chahal 3-46) lost to India 219/2 (Shikhar Dhawan 100*, Shreyas Iyer 65) by eight wickets.
