Mahela Jayawardene ans Upul Tharanga scored a century each to power Sri Lanka to 224 for one after 40 overs against India in the third match of the ODI Tri-Series here today.
Opting to bat, Sri Lanka made a quiet start to their innings before Jayawadene and Tharanga opened up.
Jayawardene and Tharanga mixed caution with aggression to pile up 47 runs in the first overs.
Shami Ahmed, who replaced Bhuveneshwar Kumar, and Umesh Yavad failed to derive any assistance from the low and slow Sabina Park wicket as the Sri Lankan opening duo milked the Indian attack to surge ahead.
Jayawardene, who was dropped by Murali Vijay off Ravindra Jadeja at the personal score of 25, cashed in on the chance and played sensibly thereafter to reach his fifty in 60 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six.
Tharanga, on the other hand, played second fiddle to Jayawardene and reached his fifty in 76 balls balls during which he struck five hits to the fence.
Nothing seemed to be going in favour India captain Virat Kohli, who is leading the side in place of injured skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as his bowling changes came a cropper against the Sri Lankans today.
Kohli, who will captain India in the remainder of the tournament after Dhoni has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury, foung the going tough as none of his bowlers managed to produce result till the 39th over of the innings.
Off-spinner Ravishndran Ashwin finally managed to break the deadlock when he dismissed the dangerous-looking Jayawardene but not before the batsman had scored 107 runs off 112 balls with the help of nine boundaries and two sixes.
Jayawardene was caught by a diving Yadav at short third man after the batsman went for reverse sweep.
Tharanga, however, went about his business in a quiet fashion and notched up his century in 124 balls during which he hit 11 boundaries.
