India beat Sri Lanka by 141 runs at Mohali

Rohit Sharma stepped into a realm few can hope to enter. His third One-Day International double hundred was a clinical exhibition of punishing batsmanship by a man under pressure to perform. He had lost his first match as captain, failed as a batsman, and had critics breathing down his neck. But one magical knock changed all that.

It was cold and gloomy at the PCA Stadium when the toss for the second ODI was taken on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka rightly opted to field and it was the only aspect of the game that went in its favour. Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan put the attack to the sword and India ended up with a total of 392. Despite an unbeaten 111 by Angelo Mathews, it was beyond Sri Lanka’s reach and India was home by 141 runs.

Rohit has long been chastised as a batsman who does not put a value to his wicket. He has struggled to come out of his own shadow and the image of a batsman who takes things and his place in the side for granted.

His awesome potential, unexplored in Tests but so creative in the shorter versions, appeals to the purist and the layman alike. And on Wednesday, Rohit played one of the most destructive innings in contemporary cricket.

India became the first team to notch up a century of 300+ scores in One-Day Internationals

Rohit is the third batsman, after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, to score six or more ODI hundreds in a calendar year.

Scoreboard India vs Sri Lanka, second ODI

India: Rohit (not out) 208 (153b, 13×4, 12×6), S. Dhawan c Thirimanne b Pathirana 68 (67b, 9×4), Shreyas c sub b Perera 88 (70b, 9×4, 2×6), M.S. Dhoni lbw b Perera 7 (5b, 1×6), Hardik c Thirimanne b Perera 8 (5b, 1×4); Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-11): 13; Total (for four wkts in 50 overs): 392.

Fall of wickets: 1-115 (Dhawan, 21.1 overs), 2-328 (Shreyas, 45.3), 3-354 (Dhoni, 47.3), 4-392 (Hardik, 49.6).

Sri Lanka bowling: Mathews 4-1-9-0, Lakmal 8-0-71-0, Perera 8-0-80-3, Pradeep 10-0-106-0, Dananjaya 10-0-51-0, Pathirana 9-0-63-1, Gunaratne 1-0-10-0.

Sri Lanka: D. Gunathilaka c Dhoni b Bumrah 16 (19b, 1×4), U. Tharanga c Karthik b Hardik 7 (14b, 1×4), L. Thirimanne b Washington 21 (35b, 1×4), A. Mathews (not out) 111 (132b, 9×4, 3×6), N. Dickwella c Washington b Chahal 22 (20b, 4×4), A. Gunaratne st Dhoni b Chahal 34 (30b, 5×4), T. Perera c Dhoni b Chahal 5 (3b, 1×4), S. Pathirana c Dhawan b Bhuvneshwar 2 (8b), A. Dananjaya c Rohit b Bumrah 11 (17b, 2×4), S. Lakmal (not out) 11 (22b); Extras (lb-2, w-9): 11; Total (for eight wkts in 50 overs): 251.

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Tharanga, 3.5), 2-30 (Gunathilaka, 7.3), 3-62 (Thirimanne, 15.3), 4-115 (Dickwella, 22.4), 5-159 (Gunaratne, 30.2), 6-166 (Perera, 30.6), 7-180 (Pathirana, 33.5), 8-207 (Dananjaya, 40.5).

India bowling: Bhuvneshwar 9-0-40-1, Hardik 10-0-39-1, Bumrah 10-0-43-2, Washington 10-0-65-1, Chahal 10-0-60-3, Shreyas 1-0-2-0.

Toss: Sri Lanka.

Man-of-the-Match: Rohit.

India won by 141 runs. Series tied 1-1.