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Rohit Cracks Second Ton as India Canter To 7-Wkt Victory

Bulawayo: Rohit Sharma hammered his second successive ODI century as India crushed Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their second match to put their campaign back on track in the tri-series here on Sunday.

       Chasing 243, India made a rather slow start and lost both their openers inside 10 overs before one-down Virat Kohli (82) and rohit (101 not out) resurrected the innings to help India romp home with 6.3 overs to spare at the Queens Sports Club. Earlier, the tidy Indian howlers produced a disciplined effort to bundle out Sri Lanka for 242 after captain Suresh Raina had opted to field.

        Sunday's win a;so marked Raina's first victory as captain. Coming together in the 10th over, Kohli and Rohit added 154 runs from 168 balls for the third wicket to take the game away from Sri Lanka.

        Rohit, who hit 114 against Zimbabwe in India's first match though for a lost cause, hit six fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 100 ball century. This was his second ODI century in his 44th match. He got superb support from Kohli whose 82 came from 92 balls with the help of four boundaries. Opening howler Nuwan Kulaskara and Ajantha Mendis achieved early success by removing Murali Vijay (14) and Dinesh Karthik (18) respectively.

       The duo initially dealt mostly in singles with occasional boundaries before opening up later on. They also did not allow the asking rate to jump over five.

     Kohli perished in the 38th over while trying to finish the game early. He came down the track to play a lofted shot off a Suraj Randiv delivery only to hole out to long-on fielder Fernando.

     When Kohli fell, India needed just 42 runs from more then 12 overs and Rohit ensured that they wrapped up the match without any hiccup. Rohit hit a four off Mendis in the 43rd over to reach his second successive ODI century.