BULAWAYO, May 30 (PTI): Rohit Sharma hammered his second successive ODI century as India crushed Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their second match to put their campaign back on track in the cricket tri-series here today.
Chasing 243, India made a rather slow start and lost both their openers inside 10 overs before one-down Virat Kohli (82) and Rohit (101 not out) resurrected the innings to help India romp home with 6.3 overs to spare at the Queens Sports Club.
Earlier, the tidy Indian bowlers produced a disciplined effort to bundle out Sri Lanka for 242 after captain Suresh Raina had opted to field.
Today�s win also marked Raina�s first victory as captain.
Coming together in the 10th over, Kohli and Rohit added 154 runs from 168 balls for the third wicket to take the game away from Sri Lanka.
Rohit, who hit 114 against Zimbabwe in India�s first match though for a lost cause, hit six fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 100-ball, his second ODI century in his 44th match.
He got a superb support from Kohli whose 82 came from 92 balls with the help of four boundaries.
Earlier, save for Angelo Mathews (75) and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan (61), the Lankan batsmen struggled for runs under tight Indian bowling after they were put into bat.
The Lankan innings eventually folded for 242 in 49.5 overs with three of their batsmen running themselves out.
Except for rookie Umesh Yadav (1/61), all the Indian bowlers bowled tight spells with Ashok Dinda (2/44), Pragyan Ojha (2/44) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/49) taking two wickets apiece.
SCORECARD
Sri Lanka: Tharanga run out 1, Dilshan run out 61, Samaraweera st Karthik b Ojha 19, Mathews b Yadav 75, Kapugedera c Vijay b Jadeja 20, Chamara Silva lbw b Jadeja 5, Perera c Raina b Ojha 32, Kulasekara b Dinda 19, Randiv run out 1, Fernando not out 0, Mendis b Dinda 2. Extras: (B-1, LB-3, W-3) 7. Total: (all out; 49.5 overs) 242. Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-39, 3-97, 4-150, 5-156, 6-204, 7-226, 8-239, 9-240. Bowling: Umesh Yadav 10-1-61-1, Ashok Dinda 9.5-0-44-2, Pragyan Ojha 10-0-44-2, Amit Mishra 10-0-40-0, Ravindra Jadeja 10-1-49-2.
India: Karthik c B Mendis b A Mendis 18, Vijay lbw b Kulasekara 14, Kohli c Fernando b Randiv 82, Rohit not out 101, Raina not out 24. Extras: (lb 1, w 3) 4. Total: (3 wickets; 43.3 overs) 243. Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-47, 3-201. Bowling: Kulasekara 9-1-34-1, Fernando 8.3-0-58-0, A Mendis 10-0-64-1, Randiv 9-0-51-1, Perera 7-0-35-0.
