India vs Sri Lanka 1st ODI: Kohli scores 45th ODI ton as India win by 67 runs to take 1-0 lead

India completed a comprehensive victory over Sri Lanka by 67 runs in the 1st ODI on Tuesday (January 10).

The hosts amassed a gigantic score of 373 for 7, mainly courtesy of Virat Kohli's 45th ODI ton, coupled with two fantastic knocks of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.

Sri Lanka, in reply, only managed to score 306 for 8, and fell short of 67 runs.

As It Happened:

India were put into bat by Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.

Rohit and Gill giving a flying start:

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave India a blistering start. The India captain returned to cricket after recovering from his thumb injury, and played an outstanding inning. The pair stitched 143 runs for the 1st wicket. Gill (70 off 60 balls) and Sharma (83 off 67 balls) fell in the mid-overs, but India continued their merry way.

King Kohli Supremacy:

Virat Kohli stepped up and dominated the Lankan bowlers in his first match for India in 2023. The talismanic batter played an elegant inning and burst into destruction mode later to complete his 45th ODI hundred, thus completing 12500 ODI runs in his career. He took India beyond the 350-mark before departing for 113 runs off just 87 balls.

KL Rahul (39 off 29 balls) also chipped with a decent cameo as India put on a mammoth 373 runs at the end of the 50 overs.

Siraj gave India early break:

In reply, Sri Lanka had a poor start. Mohammed Siraj steamed in and picked up a couple of wickets upfront as Avishka Fernando (5) and Kusal Mendis (0) fell cheaply.

Umran Malik breaks the middle order:

Sri Lanka somehow steadied the inning with Pathum Nissanka and Dhananjaya de Silva, but Mohammed Shami picked up the latter to give the visitors a big blow. Nissanka batted extremely well for his 72 runs, but then fell to Umran Malik, who clocked 156 kmph on the night. Malik also picked up the wickets of Charith Asalanka (23) and Dunith Wellalage (0).

Sri Lanka never looked anywhere close to their asking rate throughout the chase as the Indian bowlers chipped in with wickets at regular intervals.

Dasun Shanaka stellar show:

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka put up a decent fight with the tail-enders. The all-rounder was sublime for his country in the T20I matches, which persisted even after the change of formats. He added 96 runs with Kasun Rajitha for the 9th wicket and got his second ODI hundred, remaining unbeaten on 108 runs off just 88 balls.

But in the end, it was too much for the visitors as they came 67 runs short of the Indian total and managed to score 306 runs at the end of their full quota of overs.