London, June 8 (CRICKETNMORE) Sri Lanka rode on a solid batting display to register a seven-wicket victory over India in their Group B Champions Trophy match at The Oval here on Thursday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Set a challenging target of 322 runs, the Lankans rode on half-centuries from Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka to cross the line in 48.3 overs and register their first win the tournament.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The duo dominated the Indian bolwers to add 159 runs between them and lay the foundation of a successful run chase.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Mendis was the highest scorer among the Sri Lankans, producing a steady 89 runs off 93 balls before being run out thanks to an excellent piece of fielding by Indian pacer Buvneshwar Kumar off his own bowling.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Gunathilaka smashed 76 off 72 deliveries with seven boundaries and two sixes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Thursday's result throws the group wide open as all the teams in the group -- India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa -- have identical records of a win and a draw.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
India will now have to beat South Africa in their last group match on June 11 and Sri lanka face a must win contest against Pakistan a day later in quest to qualify from the semi-finals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sri Lanka suffered an early jolt when Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent back Niroshan Dickwella in the fifth over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
However, Mendis joined Gunathilaka in the middle and the duo proceeded to turn things around with some superb batting.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
After Gunathilaka's dismissal, Mendis and Kusal Perera added 26 runs between them off 29 balls.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
However, poor communication between them coupled with an accurate throw by Bhuvneshwar Kumar deprived Mendis of what would have been an extremely well-deserved century.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Angelo Mathews joined Perera in the middle to produce another crucial partnership for Sri Lanka.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The duo added 75 runs between off just 62 deliveries before Perera had to retire due to an injury to his right hamstring.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Perera scored 47 runs off 44 bals with five hits to the fence. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
Mathews continued to battle on and remained unbeaten on 52 at the end.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He received excellent support from Asela Gunaratne who scored a quickfire 34 runs off 21 balls with two boundaries and a couple of sixes. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
Earlier opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan's 125 powered defending champions India to 321\/6 in 50 overs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Dhawan, who registered his 10th century in One-Day International (ODI) cricket, shared a partnership of 138 with fellow opener Rohit Sharma (78; 79b; 4x6, 6x3).<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Dhawan also shared an 82-run stand with Mahendra Singh Dhoni (63; 52b; 7x4, 6x2)) for the fourth wicket as India posted a highly-challenging total.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Asked to bat, the Indian right-left combination of Rohit Sharma and Dhawan laid a solid foundation as they made the most of the shorter length maintained by the Sri Lankan pacers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Dhawan and Rohit initially ensured that they get through the early overs without any damage and then paced their innings nicely once they got settled.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Both the batsmen showed good cutting, pulling and hooking strore-making techniques as they milked runs mostly through the square of the wicket.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rohit, having completed his 31st fifty, was cruising until being caught by Thisara Perera off pacer Lasith Malinga. That put India at 138\/1 in 24.5 overs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Then, India lost Virat Kohli (0) and Yuvraj Singh (7) cheaply within the next few overs but Dhawan kept finding fours to keep Sri Lanka at bay.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Captain Kohli disappointed the crowd when he edged behind a delivery from paceman Nuwan Pradeep in the fifth ball of the 16th over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Yuvraj dragged a ball from Asela Gunaratne on to his stumps, and India score read 179\/3 in 33.3 overs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Even if they were at a spot of bother, Dhawan and new batsman Dhoni showed a lot of positivity, not staying away from punishing poor deliveries.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Dhoni made his intention clear as he opened his account with a six over point off pacer Suranga Lakmal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
His approach helped Dhawan and the latter completed his century in 112 deliveries. A cut towards point off Pradeep brought up his three-figure mark.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Dhawan stepped up after completing his century but his innings was halted at 125, when he couldn't clear Kusal Mendis at long-on off a delivery from Malinga. The Delhi batsman's knock featured 15 fours and a six from the 128 deliveries he faced.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Dhoni, however, continued to flay the Sri Lankan bowlers who erred in line and length, making it easy for him to showcase his brute power.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Later, Kedar Jadhav scored a quickfire 25 not out from 13 deliveries to take India past 320.<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2017\/06\/sri-lanka-beat-india-by-7-wickets1.jpg", "alt_img": "CT 2017: Sri Lanka beat thrash India by 7 wickets", "alt_title": "CT 2017: Sri Lanka beat thrash India by 7 wickets", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "CT 2017: Sri Lanka beat India by 7 wickets", "seo_desc": "Sri Lanka rode on a solid batting display to register a seven-wicket victory over India in their Group B Champions Trophy match at The Oval here", "seo_keywords": "India vs Sri Lanka, ICC Champions Trophy 2017", "tag": "", "tagging": "", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "0", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "ct-2017-sri-lanka-beat-thrash-india-by-7-wickets", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "1941", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "0", "auto_link": "0", "created": "2017-06-08 23:10:00", "updated": "2017-06-08 23:10:00", "img_from": "", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": null, "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "1", "jio_date": "2017-06-08 23:10:00", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2017-06-08 23:10:00", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/ct-2017-sri-lanka-beat-thrash-india-by-7-wickets-27821" }