When Sri Lanka accumulated 321 runs after being put into bat at Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Their followers would have been well-pleased, as indeed I was. But Sri Lanka had chased around 310 runs twice in South Africa and the wicket was clearly a feather-bed. Moreover, when Sangakkara was interviewed between innings,he remarked that Sanath and Tharanga had led a chase for some 325 runs in an ODI match in England and Sri Lanka had reached the target in 36 overs. This remark suggests that Sri Lanka were not complacent.
India reached the imposing target in just that — 36 overs. The Sri Lankan skipper and team were simply steamrollered and eviscerated by all the batsmen and by Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina in particular. It was a brilliant display, a set of gems for connoisseurs.
Any lessons? I broach one. On feather bed wickets pack your team with more spinners and/or bowlers with guile.
A Statisical Summary with a Focus on Kohli, by Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan, courtesy of cricinfoESPN
- Kohli scored his ninth ODI century and his second against Sri Lanka. It is also his sixth century in ODI chases. Kohli’s strike rate of 154.65 is the third-highest for an Indian batsman in an ODI chase(centuries only) after Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Azharuddin.
- * The run-rate during the century stand between Kohli and Suresh Raina (13.56) is the highest ever for India for a 100-plus partnership in ODIs, and the highest against major Test teams. The highest overall is 17.73 during the 136-run stand between Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan against USA in 2004. *Gautam Gambhir and Kohli were involved in their fifth century stand in ODI chases. In the second innings (min. 1000 partnership runs), the pair averages the highest (75.33). *Lasith Malinga conceded over 90 runs for the first time in his ODI career. His economy rateof 12.52 is the highest in ODIs for a minimum of five overs.
*India batted second for the eighth time in the series. There have been only four previous occasions when teams have batted second more often in an ODI series. The target of 321 is the second-highest successfully chased target in ODIs in Australia and also the third-highest target chased by India.
- India become only the second team after Sri Lanka (Headingley 2006) to chase a 300-plus target in under 40 overs. Sri Lanka had scored 324 in 37.3 overs, which makes India’s effort the fastest chase of a 300-plus target. In fact, India’s run-rateof 8.75 is the second-highest for a 250-plus chase in ODIs after South Africa’s chase of 434 in Johannesburg in 2006, when they achieved a rate of 8.78.
- India hit 33 fours in their innings equalling the highest number of boundaries hit in a team innings in Australia. The number of fours hit in the match (54) is the joint fifth-highest in a gamein Australia.
- Both Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara scored their fourth ODI century against India. Only Sanath Jayasuriya (7), Ricky Ponting (6), Nathan Astle and Salman Butt (5) have scored more ODI centuries against India. Dilshan, who equalled his highest ODI score (against India in Rajkot), also becomes only the second batsman after Jayasuriya to make a 150-plusscore on two occasions against India.
- The 200-run stand between Sangakkara and Dilshan is the fifth double-century stand for the second wicket in ODIs against India. It is also the highest partnership in ODIs in Hobart surpassing the 165-run stand between Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick in 2003. The double-hundred stand is also the 11th in the history of the Australian tri-seriesand the second for Sri Lanka in the competition.
- With both Sangakkara and Dilshan scoring centuries, it is the 15th instance of two batsmen scoring a century in the same team innings against India. For Sri Lanka, this is the 11th instance overall of two batsmen scoring a century in the same innings and the third such occasion since the start of the 2011 World Cup.
- Sangakkara’s century is his 13th in ODIs and his fourth against India. it is also his second century in Australia after the 128 against India in Adelaide in 2008. His strike rateof 120.68 during his century is his highest for a 100-plus score.
- Sri Lanka’s 321 is their ninth total of 300 or more against India in ODIs. They have, however, gone on to lose five of the nine matches. It is also the 56th time that India have conceded300-plus runs, the most for any team.
- The match aggregate of 641 is the third-highest in an ODI in Australia. The highest is 678 in the game between Australia and New Zealand in Perth in 2006-07. The match run-rate of 7.39 is the highest for a completed ODI in Australia.
- Edited by Siddarth Ravindran