Led by an archetypally belligerent Rohit Sharma, India got off to a flier in the modest 231-run chase in the ODI opener versus Sri Lanka at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Shubman Gill joined the party with a boundary each in the next two overs. Debutant Mohamed Shiraz was targetted by Rohit as the Indian captain walloped him for two fours and followed it up with a six as India ticked off 40 runs in just the first four overs.
The early assault forced Sri Lanka to introduced spin as early as in the fifth over. The move didn’t deter Rohit as he welcomed Dunith Wellalage with two fours in his opening over. While Rohit celebrated another fifty in ODIs, India’s run rate finally slowed down when Wellalage bowled 12 dots in a row to Gill. The scoreboard pressure got to Gill and Wellalage’s outing became a lot more better when Rohit failed to connect a sweep to perish lbw in his next over.
India sprung a surprise by sending Washington Sundar up the order but it was the islanders who built on their good work by removing the allrounder for a single-digit score. Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer applied the brakes on Sri Lanka’s march for a short while during which the latter made a sprightly start. Kohli picked successive boundaries off Wellalage to wrestle the momentum before the home side fought back, with Hasaranga netting the big fish Kohli and Shreyas losing his poles.
PURE CLASS pic.twitter.com/D054bCL9X4
— One Gorgeous Shot of Virat Kohli Daily (@OneKohli) August 2, 2024
