Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik smashed a century each as India warmed up for its Champions Trophy campaign with a five-wicket thumping of Sri Lanka in its first practice game here on Saturday.
Kohli (144) teamed up with Dinesh Karthik (106 not out) to rescue India from a wobbly start with a 186-run stand for the fifth wicket in just 23.2 overs to chase down a huge target of 334 with one over to spare.
India was reduced to 62 for three in the 13th over and then to 110 for four in the 21st over before Kohli and Karthik resurrected the innings and sent the Sri Lankan bowlers on a leather hunt in the second part of the run chase. Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews used nine bowlers in the 15-a-side warm-up game and all of them were punished by Kohli and Karthik.
Kohli, who had some good scores in the recent Indian Premier League, struck 11 fours and three sixes in his 120-ball flawless innings.
Earlier, young left-hander Kusal Perera and seasoned Tillekaratne Dilshan took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners as Sri Lanka posted a mammoth 333 for three.
Dilshan smashed a 78-ball 84 (9x4, 1x6) while Perera also smote Irfan Pathan and co. to all parts of the ground hitting 82 off 94 balls (7x4, 3x6) as the pair added 160 runs in 26 overs.
The Indian bowlers were unable to dismiss the duo as both retired to allow the other batsmen get a decent time in the middle.
The scores: Sri Lanka: K. Perera retd. hurt 82, T. Dilshan retd. hurt 84, M. Jayawardena c Irfan b Ishant 30, K. Sangakkara c Ashwin b Mishra 45, D. Chandimal c Dhoni b Bhuvneshwar 46, T. Perera (not out) 26, D. Lokuhettige (not out) 6; Extras (b-5, lb-3, nb-2, w-4): 14; Total (for three wkts. in 50 overs): 333.
Fall of wickets: 1-209, 2-279, 3-325.
India bowling: Irfan 5-0-45-0, Bhuvneshwar 8-0-58-1, Ishant 6-0-41-1, Vinay Kumar 7-0-42-0, Ashwin 8-0-45-0, Jadeja 8-0-41-0, Mishra 8-0-53-1.
India: S. Dhawan run out 1, M. Vijay c Thirimanne b Eranga 18, V. Kohli c Chandimal b Eranga 144, Rohit c Kulasekara b T. Perera 5, S. Raina b Senanayake 34, D. Karthik (not out) 106, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 18; Extras (b-2, lb-4, w-5): 11; Total (for five wkts. in 49 overs): 337.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-52, 3-62, 4-110, 5-296.
Sri Lanka bowling: Kulasekara 9-0-56-0, Mathews 5-0-26-0, Eranga 9-0-60-2, T. Perera 6-0-34-1, Senanayake 6-0-42-1, Herath 7-0-44-0, J. Mendis 3-0-31-0, Dilshan 3-0-20-0, Lokuhettige 1-0-18-0.
