Kohli’s century guides India to 5-0 clean sweep against Sri Lanka

November 17, 2014

Kohlis centuryRanchi, Nov 17: Virat Kohli’s sensational unbeaten 139 guided India to a 5-0 series clean sweep against Sri Lanka with a three-wicket win in the fifth One-Day International (ODI) between India and England at Ranchi on Sunday. Kohli and Angelo Mathews dominated proceedings, as both men scored tons — a maiden ODI century for Mathews, and the 21st for Kohli — to become the only two men to cross 1,000 ODI runs in 2014.

India started off on a terrible note, as openers Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma were cleaned up by Mathews to leave India reeling at 14 for two. Ambati Rayudu and Virat Kohli then came together for what proved to be a tremendous partnership of 136 runs. Rayudu scored his fifth ODI half-century while Kohli went on to make his 21st hundred in ODIs.

However, Ajantha Mendis ran amok in the middle overs, knocking over Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Stuart Binny, and Ravichandran Ashwin in quick succession. In Akshar Patel, Kohli found a steady partner, and together they scored off the remaining runs in clinical fashion. Kohli remained unbeaten at the end, and even paid tribute to hometown hero MS Dhoni when he played a semi-helicopter shot for six in the penultimate over of the match off Mendis.

Sri Lanka got off to a poor start despite a severely depleted Indian new-ball attack. Dhawal Kulkarni and Stuart Binny opened the bowling, and between them got rid of both openers by the sixth over. Kulkarni induced a false shot from debutant Niroshan Dickwella and Ambati Rayudu dove forward to take a good catch. Binny then cleaned up a dangerous-looking Tillakaratne Dilshan for a 24-ball 35 with a slower in-cutter.

Dinesh Chandimal and Mahela Jayawardene then combined for a strange 28-run stand; it was strange because most of those runs came from the serene blade of Jayawardene, but Chandimal scratched around like a cat on a hot tin roof to crawl to five off 31 balls. Jayawrdene was soon dismissed as well, edging Ravichandran Ashwin to Ajinkya Rahane at slip.

At 85 for four, Sri Lanka were in serious trouble of meandering away to an early close, but then had the leading run-scorers in ODIs this year in the middle: Angelo Mathews. With Lahiru Thirimanne for company, Mathews took his time accumulating runs in the ones and twos, and hitting the occasional boundary. The duo put on a superb 128-run stand for the fifth wicket. Thirimanne was out soon after getting his half-century, but Mathews just kept going. He tore into the spinners, first hitting part-time off-spinner Ambati Rayudu for two sixes and a boundary and then dishing out the same treatment to Karn Sharma. Mathews got his maiden ODI ton in the 47th over, taking 138 games to reach the landmark. He wasn’t done though; Akshar Patel was slammed for three more sixes in the ante-penultimate over of the innings.

Thisara Perera was out towards the end, but Mathews just kept going; Ashwin was hoisted over midwicket and then down over long-off in the 49th over. In the end, Mathews’ superb ton was but a footnote in another script written by Kohli.

Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Dickwella made his debut at the expense of Kusal Perera, while Kedar Jadhav made his debut for India, coming in for Suresh Raina. Umesh Yadav too was replaced by Ravichandran Ashwin. India have already won the series 4-0.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

N Dickwella c Rayudu b Kulkarni 4

T Dilshan b Binny 35

D Chandimal c K Sharma b A Patel 5

M Jayawardene c Rahane b Ashwin 32

A Mathews not out 139

L Thirimanne c Rayudu b Ashwin 52

T Perera c Jadhav b A Patel 6

S Prasanna c A Patel b Kulkarni 0

A Mendis c K Sharma b Kulkarni 0

EXTRAS: (b4, lb2, w7) 13

TOTAL: (8 wkts, 50 overs) 286

FOW: 1-32, 2-45, 3-73, 4-85, 5-213, 6-258, 7-285, 8-286

BOWLING: D Kulkarni 8-0-57-3, S Binny 8-1-28-1, A Patel 10-0-45-2, R Ashwin 10-1-56-2, K Sharma 10-0-61-0, A Rayudu 4-0-33-0

INDIA:

A Rahane b Mathews 2

R Sharma b Mathews 9

A Rayudu run out 59

V Kohli not out 139

R Uthappa c Mathews b Mendis 19

K Jadhav b Mendis 20

S Binny st Chandimal b Mendis 12

R Ashwin lbw b Mendis 0

A Patel not out 17

EXTRAS: (b4, w7) 11

TOTAL: (7 wkts; 48.4 overs) 288

FOW: 1-6, 2-14, 3-150, 4-180, 5-215, 6-231, 7-231

BOWLING: Mathews 7-1-33-2, Gamage 4-0-25-0, Eranga 7-0-45-0, Prasanna 10-0-42-0, Perera 3-0-20-0, Mendis-9.4-0-73-4, Dilshan 8-0-46-0

TOSS: SRI LANKA

UMPIREs: B Oxenford, S Ravi

TV UMPIRE: Anil Chaudhary

MATCH REFEREE: David Boon

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News Network
May 8,2020

New Delhi, May 8: India skipper Virat Kohli believes cricket in empty stadiums is a real possibility in post COVID-19 world and though it is unlikely to have a bearing on the intensity of players, he feels the magic would certainly go missing.

Cricket Boards across the globe are exploring the option of resuming the sport in empty stadiums. There is speculation that fans could be kept away from stadiums in a bid to salvage the T20 World Cup in Australia, which is currently under threat due to the global health crisis.

"It's quite a possible situation, it might happen, I honestly don't know how everyone is going to take that because we all are used to playing in front of so many passionate fans," Kohli said in Star Sports' show 'Cricket Connected'.

"I know it will be played at a very good intensity but that feeling of the crowd connecting with the players and the tension of the game where everyone goes through it in the stadium, those emotions are very difficult to recreate," he added.

Kohli said the many moments which are created because of the passion brought in by fans, would be missing.

"Things will still go on, but I doubt that one will feel that magic happening inside because of the atmosphere that was created.

"We will play sports how it is supposed to be played, but those magical moments will be difficult to come by," he said.

Cricketers such as Ben Stokes, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Pat Cummins have backed the idea of playing behind closed doors.

However, legendary Australian Allan Border has said it would defy belief to host a World Cup without spectators.

Another Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and some other cricketers have also expressed similar sentiments.

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News Network
April 14,2020

Karachi, Apr 14: Disappointed with Kapil Dev's response, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi has backed his former teammate Shoaib Akhtar's proposal for an ODI series against India to help raise funds for the less privileged in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Afridi told reporters in Kohat that he was surprised by the comments of Indian great Kapil and former IPL chairman, Rajeev Shukla, who outrightly dismissed Akhtar's suggestion.

"The entire world is fighting against coronavirus and we need unity in our region to defeat this common enemy. Such negative comments don't help at all," Afridi said.

"I don't see anything wrong with Shoaib Akhtar's suggestion for Pakistan and India to play cricket.

"Kapil's reaction has surprised me. I expected better from him and feel one should not talk like this in these crisis times."

Afridi said that he was also surprised at some of the "negative comments" Indian stars Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh's support for his charity foundation attracted.

"Sport is supposed to bring people together and build bridges. It is pretty disappointing."

Afridi also urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to order the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to restore departmental cricket in the country to save the livelihood of hundreds of domestic players.

"I myself played for the departments and witnessed how departments really salvaged domestic cricket in Pakistan and helped it thrive decade after decade.

"Departments take good care of the players and spend lots of money on the development of domestic cricket, so how can departmental cricket hurt Pakistan cricket," questioned Afridi.

He also questioned the PCB and the Pakistan team management for making a fitness of players a big issue.

"They are always talking about hard training and fitness tests. I have never seen fitness tests taken with such frequency and the result is that many players are getting injured and many of them are also unhappy with the situation."

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: Former Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer on Sunday picked his all-time IPL team and appointed wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni as its captain.

Jaffer's team's feature opener Rohit Sharma, current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, spinner R Ashwin, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah as seven domestic players.
While the foreign players spot have been occupied by West Indies' swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle, all-rounder Andre Russell, Afghanistan's spinner Rashid Khan, and Sri Lanka's veteran pacer Lasith Malinga.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been picked as 12th man by Jaffer.

Earlier this month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to postpone the IPL to April 15, 2020, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 outbreak.
The board also assured that it will work in unison with the Sports Ministry and will adhere to the guidelines issued.

The 13th edition of IPL was scheduled to commence from March 29. 

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