India were cruising at 109/0 chasing a target of 231 runs, but then they lost seven wickets for 22 runs in the second ODI against Sri Lanka at Pallekele on Thursday.
Sri Lanka were on top of the game as India needed 100 runs to win from 169 balls with three wickets in hand.
However, MS Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had other plans. They recorded India’s highest partnership for the eighth wicket against Sri Lanka and took the visitors over the line with 34 balls to spare.
Here’s a look at some of the big numbers from the match.
- India's total (231) is their second lowest score to include two century stands – 109 for the first wicket and 100 (unbroken) for the eighth wicket – the lowest being 229 vs New Zealand at Baroda on 4 December 2010.
- India could make just 22 while losing seven wickets. Against New Zealand at Dambulla on 10 August 2010, they had lost six wickets for 28 runs.
- Mahendra Singh Dhoni enjoys splendid record in wins – his tally being 5,682 at an average of 73.79, including seven hundreds and 38 fifties, in 166 matches.
- Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have shared 11 century stands – the joint-third highest by an Indian pair – the top two being 26 by Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar and 13 by Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar.
- With his dismissal at 49, Dhawan has missed equalling a record for most fifty-plus innings in a row against any opponent in ODIs. He has registered six fifty-plus innings in a row before Thursday's match – 94, 113, 79, 91, 125 and 132* vs Sri Lanka between 28-2-2014 and 24-8-2017. Javed Miandad between 26-3-1985 and 25-5-1987 had registered seven fifty-plus innings – 71, 59, 77*, 60, 113, 71* & 68 vs England.
- Rohit's fifth fifty (54) vs Sri Lanka is his 32nd in ODIs and his second in Sri Lanka – the first being 69 at Dambulla on 22 June 2010.
- Rohit is averaging 60-plus in ODIs this year – his tally being 362 runs in seven innings, including a hundred and three fifties, in seven matches.
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar (53 not out off 80 balls) has recorded a career-best score in ODIs, surpassing the 31 vs England at Dharamsala on 27 January 2013.
- Kumar is the fourth India's Number 9 batsman to register a fifty in ODIs, joining JP Yadav, Madan Lal and Praveen Kumar.
- Kumar is the fourth Number 9 batsman to post a fifty in successful chases in ODIs, joining Australia's James Faulkner, Kenya's Thomas Odoyo and New Zealand's Brendon McCullum.
- Dhoni and Kumar were involved in an unbeaten partnership of 100 – India's highest eighth wicket partnership vs Sri Lanka in ODIs, obliterating the unbroken 57 between Virat Kohli and Axar Patel at Ranchi on 16 November 2014.
- India's previous highest eighth-wicket stand in ODIs was 84 between Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar vs Australia at Vadodara on 25-10-2009.
- For the first time a hundred-run partnership has been recorded for the eighth wicket in successful chases in ODIs, bettering the 99 (unbroken) between Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad for England vs India at Manchester on 30 August 2007.
- Akila Dananjaya has produced his first five-wicket haul in ODIs, eclipsing his previous best – 4 for 47 vs Zimbabwe at Hambantota on 10 July 2017. He has become the fourth Sri Lankan bowler to take six or more wickets in an ODI vs India, joining Muttiah Muralitharan (7/30 at Sharjah on 27 October 2000), Ajantha Mendis (6/13 at Karachi on 6 July 2008) and Angelo Matthews (6/20 at Colombo (RPS) on 12 September 2009).
(Statistics from PTI)
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