Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 166 off 110 balls as India defeated Sri Lanka by the highest margin in one-day cricket of 317 runs in bowling out the visitors for 73 runs, the lowest total by a side in India for a 3-nil clean sweep of the 3-match ODI series at the Greenfield International Stadium at Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

The 34-year old Kohli who rode a three year long century drought with a T20 ton comeback last year and swept to his third ODI ton in four innings, two of which against Sri Lanka in this series, put on 131 for the second wicket with Shubman Gill who struck 116 off 97, and 98 for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer for the third wicket in bettering Sachin Tendulkar’s 20 most tons record in India while taking his tally of tons to 46, three short of Tendulkar’s all-time world record of 49. He hit 13 boundaries and 3 sixes in his spellbinding innings as India ran up 390 for 5 off 50. Sri Lanka was bowled out for an under par 73 in just 22 overs with the highest scorer being Nuwanidu Fernando 19 with two others Dasun Shanaka 11 and No.9 Kasun Rajitha 13 not out reaching double figures. The day ended in a double calamity for the Lankans with Ashen Bandara and Jeffrey Vandersay in a nasty headlong collision in attempting to cut down a shot by Kohli in the deep. The game did bring out the human element in Kohli who was quick to inquire from the Lankan captain Shanaka if both were okay as they were taken off the field. Shubman hit 14 boundaries and 2 sixes in his equally scintillating innings.

CHIEF SCORES: India 390/5 (50)Overs) Virat Kohli n.o. 166, Shubman Gill 116, Rohit Sharma 42. Shreyas Iyer 38, Kasun Rajitha 2/81, Lahiru Kumara 2/87, Chamika Karunaratne 1/58) Sri Lanka 73 (22 Overs) (Nuwanidu Fernando 19,.Dasun Shanaka 11, Kasun Rajitha n.o. 13, Mohammed Siraj 4/32, Mohammed Shammi 2/20, Kuldeep Yadav 2/16)