Skipper Virat Kohli scored his 30th one-day international century to lead India to victory in the fifth and final one-day match on Sunday as the visitors won by six wickets to complete a 5-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Sri Lanka elected to bat and were going steady at 185-4, with Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne notching up half-centuries, but they collapsed in the final 11 overs as they lost six wickets for 53 runs.
Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was named man of the match, marked his maiden ODI five-wicket haul as powerful performances from him and spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah limited the hosts to 238 all out.
India’s opening batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma fell early to leave India at 29-2 but impressive play from Kohli, who scored 110 off 116 balls, and Kedar Jadhav, who scored 63 off 73 balls, led them to victory.
Kohli’s second consecutive century of the series moved him level with former Australian captain Ricky Ponting for the most ODI centuries. The duo are joint second with 30 centuries each while Indian ace Sachin Tendulkar holds the record with 49.
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first wicketkeeper to collect 100 ODI stumpings, surpassing Sri Lanka’s retired captain Kumar Sangakkara. India whitewashed the hosts 3-0 in the preceding test series, prompting the entire selection panel to resign.
Sri Lanka’s 2019 World Cup participation is now uncertain as they failed to get the number of victories required for automatic qualification.
With Sri Lanka’s direct qualification to the 2019 Cricket World Cup high at stake, the beleaguered team will look to avoid the ignominy of a whitewash when the fifth and final ODI gets underway this afternoon at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Low in confidence and weakened by injuries, Sri Lanka may need an extraordinary effort to stop the marauding Indians who are eyeing their successive 5-0 win in a bilateral series against Sri Lanka. India beat Sri Lanka 5-0 in 2014 in India—the last bilateral series between the two neighbours.
After losing the Test series 3-0, all that was needed was a spirited effort to test the Indians in the limited-over leg but the hosts are yet to challenge the mighty Indians who have dominated the series, leaving no room for them to fight back.
The series lost means Sri Lanka now has to hope West Indies 'underperformers' in England in the five-match series and their on-off ODI against Ireland to secure a direct spot in the World Cup. They need to lose five out of six matches to allow Sri Lanka direct entry. Sri Lanka’s batting coach Avishka Gunawardena admitted, "It has gone beyond Sri Lanka’s control".
“We have to make sure we try and win the match tomorrow," he said. "That’s the only way we can turn it around. If I say the mood is really good, I’m lying. To be brutally honest, the confidence level is a bit down but, of course, the guys are trying their best. I must say their enthusiasm is still high. We are trying to hit certain targets and hopefully we will hit those targets."
According Gunawardena, Sri Lanka’s dot-ball percentage is nearly 50 per cent of the overs. It needs to reduce by at least 10 to 15 per cent.
“This has been a big issue for us during the last few months," he admitted. "We need to collect more singles and we also need at least one of the top five batsmen to bat at least till the 40th over."
“If you look at the four ODIs we have played so far, out of the first six batsmen, almost everyone got the start but could not go on to get a big one," he reflected. "So these are some of the small things we discussed. They are still young and they need to learn from their mistakes but they need to learn fast."
With skipper Upul Tharanga making his way into the team, having missed the last two matches owing to his suspension for slow-overate, Dilshan Munaweera, who made his ODI debut, on Thursday is likely to sit out. Tharanga, who has committed the same offence twice this year, now faces an eight-month ban if his team makes the same mistake this year again.
The Indians, on the other hand, will fancy their chances for a series whitewash and may retain the same combination which played on Thursday, with the likes of Manish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur given a further opportunity to impress.
Teams: India from: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur.
Sri Lanka from: Upul Tharanga (capt), Lasith Malinga, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dilshan Munaweera, Lahiru Thirimanna, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana, Malinda Pushpakumara, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan, Thisara Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Vishwa Fernando.
