India rub salt in the wounds of hopeless Sri Lanka with world record one day drubbing. – By TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE.
Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill and skipper Rohit Sharma sounded Sri Lanka’s death knell when they decimated a toothless bowling attack to seal an emphatic 3-0 series win in the one-day series sending the Islanders home with bitter memories of a tour that sent shudders through them.
Kohli in full stride is a nightmare to most teams in the world, and his dominant presence will leave the Sri Lanka bowlers with years of trauma that will take a while to recover from.
The trio helped India run up an insurmountable 390 for 5 which effectively demoralised and derailed any dreams of a Sri Lanka upset in the dead rubber.
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Kohil’s merciless onslaught on the hapless Sri Lanka attack saw him smash 166 not out off only 110 balls with 8 sixers and 13 fours with Shubman Gill 116 off 97 balls and Skipper Rohit Sharma 42 off 49 deliveries completing the assault. It also sent an ominous warning to the Australians who are due to take them on next.
Faced with a mountainous task, they were never in the hunt as paceman Mohammed Siraj ripped through the Sri Lankan top order to put them out of contest and out of their misery.
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Bowled out for 73, Sri Lanka’s 317 run loss gave them the worst loss in one-dayers in the history of the format. Their fortunes in the upcoming World Cup looks glum on reflection. Only three batters we able to enter double figures as the now familiar Sr Lankan batting procession continued.
Adding insult to injury was the boundary line collision between Jeffry Vandersay and Ashen Bandara attempting to save a boundary which resulted in Bandara appearing to suffer concussion and he was unable to bat. Not that it would have mattered to the outcome.
Sriraj grabbed three of the first five Sri Lanka wickets then threw down the stumps to run our Chamika Karunaratne to leave a rattled Lankan side 40 for six and the game was practically over in the 12th over. He ended with 4 for 32 in his 10 over spell with Mohamed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav competing the Sri Lanka rout with two wickets apiece.
Kuldeep Yadav once again deceived Dasun Shanaka, for a second time, with a classic wrong un to kill off any chance of a face saving reply leaving them in tatters at 50 for 7 as they signalled eventual humiliation.
It didn’t take much long after that for the demolition to be complete.
This would rate as the worst Sri Lankan effort in one dayers in its history. And India reminded Sri Lanka they are far from where the real contests at a world level is.
Sri Lanka’s batters showed themselves up once more as haphazard and totally not upto world standards. If India could make nearly 400 and the opposition struggle to make 100 it’s not rocket science to work out the difference in skills.
India quite understandably appeared to gloat at the toothless Lion’s helplessness, and made them aware they have much to dwell on as they try to establish where in the world they belong. They were ruthless and clinical in their quest to remind the Asia Cup champions of the stark reality of their standing since then.
Many of the minnows of World cricket would be smacking their lips at playing them right now fancying their chances of inflicting further humiliation of a team in complete disarray.
Questions that would be asked on their return is the planning, team selection and preparedness for a challenging tour such as this. The selectors, coaches and the administrators are ultimately responsible and accountable.
Sri Lankan supporters around the world must be agast at the disappointing mismatch. But it gets back to mismanagement of an important tour after the euphoria of an Asia Cup triumph.
Mental recovery from this humiliation will be long and painful.
