Champions Trophy, Ind vs SL: Dhawan's 'Shikhar' ton help India set huge target

A brilliant century from left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan and blistering half centuries from Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped India set a huge 322 target for Sri Lanka in their crucial Champions Trophy encounter here at the Oval, London on Thursday.

Put into bat, both Dhawan (125) and Sharma (78) provided the Men in Blue with a stupendous start, putting 138 runs for the opening stand.

However, as soon as Sharma departed, skipper Virat Kohli (0) and last match's hero Yuvraj Singh (7) also went down cheaply.

However, veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dhoni then shared a 82-run stand with Dhawan and took India to a commanding position. Both the batsmen smashed the Sri Lankan bowlers to all parts of the ground and didn't allow them to settle in.

Towards the end of the innings, Kedar Jadhav played a sweet little cameo of 25 runs off 13 balls and helped India, not only reach past the 300-mark but post a total of 321-6.

It was the fifth straight-300+ score for India in ODIs.

Lasith Malinga was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers as he took two wickets but gave away 70 runs in his quota of 10 overs.

For Sri Lanka, their pacers suffered under the onslaught and have left the batsmen with a steep target to chase - if they are to remain in contention for a place in the semi-final.

-ANI