Sri Lanka v India, 2014-15

	Virat Kohli reaches three figures to help India thrash Sri Lanka 5-0 © BCCI Enlarge
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One-day internationals (5): India 5, Sri Lanka 0
This series was a rabbit plucked from the BCCI's hat following the West Indians' early return home. India should have been slugging it out with them in a Test series, but a pay dispute between the West Indies players, their union and their board (see page 905) meant the plug was pulled during the one-day games, leaving India with a large hole in their home calendar.

Their administrators swiftly got in touch with Sri Lanka, their close allies and most regular opponents, and a five-match one-day series was set up within three days of the West Indian pull-out. The Sri Lankans had to be withdrawn from a strength and conditioning camp ahead of their home one-day series with England. It was no coincidence that, for most of the tour, they played as if still warming up. India took advantage - none more brutally than Rohit Sharma, who smashed a world-record 264 in the fourth match, at Kolkata.

Rarely had limited-overs cricket felt less like a bowler's game. The World Cup was just three months away, but neither side was ever at full strength, and India's captain, M. S. Dhoni, chose to rest before the trip to Australia. India were favourites, but a 5-0 sweep was still unexpected; Sri Lanka offered little resistance until the final match, and even then it came almost single-handedly, via captain Angelo Mathews. They were thoroughly outbowled by India: slow left-armer Akshar Patel took 11 wickets, and Umesh Yadav ten; Sri Lanka's bowlers managed 22 in total.

India's stars, though, were their batsmen. An Indian scored a century in four of the five games - and in the one they didn't, at Hyderabad, Shikhar Dhawan made 91. Sharma had spent time on the sidelines after breaking a finger in England, and seen his opening spot given to Ajinkya Rahane, who made two centuries. But, in his first match back, at Eden Gardens, Sharma didn't so much get his foot in the door as kick it wide open, adding a second double-century to the one he had made a year earlier against Australia at Bangalore.

Kohli, captaining the side, bettered his own score in every innings, peaking with a sublime unbeaten 139 at Ranchi: he had entered with his side in trouble, and chased down a challenging total on a turning pitch. Dhawan, who brushed off poor form with 113, 79 and 91 before being rested, completed this trifecta of outstanding Indian batting. Among the Sri Lankans, only Mathews surpassed his aggregate of 283 runs.

Neither side was likely to read too much into the result, given the vastly different conditions they would encounter at the World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. But, for the intangibles of building confidence and team spirit, India benefited enormously.

Match reports for

Tour Match: India A v Sri Lankans at Brabourne, Oct 30, 2014
Scorecard

1st ODI: India v Sri Lanka at Cuttack, Nov 2, 2014
Report | Scorecard

2nd ODI: India v Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad, Nov 6, 2014
Report | Scorecard

3rd ODI: India v Sri Lanka at Hyderabad, Nov 9, 2014
Report | Scorecard

4th ODI: India v Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, Nov 13, 2014
Report | Scorecard

5th ODI: India v Sri Lanka at Ranchi, Nov 16, 2014
Report | Scorecard