Rohit slams century, Dhoni hits fifty as India seal ODI series against Sri Lanka

Opener Rohit Sharma's brilliant unbeaten ton helped India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to seal the five match one-day International series 3-0 here yesterday

Rohit Sharma acknowledges the crowd after India's win in the 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy in Sri Lanka. Pic/PTI

Opener Rohit Sharma's brilliant unbeaten ton helped India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to seal the five match one-day International series 3-0 here yesterday. Apart from Rohit (124 not out), former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (67 not out) played a perfect support role at the other end after India's top order got exposed with the scoreboard reading 61 for 4 in 15.1 overs.

Crowd trouble
The duo forged an unbeaten 157-run partnership for the fifth wicket but just when eight runs were needed, the crowd hurled bottles in the ground and the match had to be stopped. After a long wait, the umpires decided to call off the match.

But, after the players left the field after the customary handshakes, security persons got the stadium emptied of spectators and the umpires then decided to resume the match.
Rohit and Dhoni made short shrift of the required eight runs. Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan (5), Virat Kohli (3), Lokesh Rahul (17) and Kedar Jadhav (0) failed to step up to the occasion and were dismissed cheaply.

For Sri Lanka, spinner Akila Dananjaya scalped two wickets while pacers Lasith Malinga and Vishwa Fernando took one wicket each. Earlier, a patient innings by Lahiru Thirimanne helped Sri Lanka post 217 for 9. Apart from Thirimanne (80 runs off 108 balls), Dinesh Chandimal (36) contributed to the cause.

No lessons learnt
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat hoping to capitalise upon the overcast conditions. But it appeared as if their batsman had not learnt any lesson from their previous defeats as many in-form and experienced batters were dismissed while playing carelessly. Apart from Thirimanne and Chandimal, no other batsman applied themselves. Top order batsmen Niroshan Dickwella (13) and Kusal Mendis (1) failed to support Chandimal at the other end.

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