Lasith Malinga became the fifth quickest bowler 300 wickets in One Day Internationals (ODIs). In the 4th ODI against India at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Malinga dismissed Indian skipper Virat Kohli and became the fifth quickest bowler to reach this feat. He surpassed former Pakistan bowler and captain Wasim Akram who took 208 games to pluck 300 wickets. While veteran bowlers like Brett Lee (171), Waqar Younis (186), Glenn McGrath (200) and Muttiah Muralitharan (202) are ahead of Malinga as they took lesser ODIs to do so. Before this India vs Sri Lanka match, Malinga had 299 wickets in his name at an average of 28.72 and strike rate of 32.5.
After plucking his 300th wicket Malinga raised both his hands in the air to celebrate his success. Virat Kohli was highly disappointed as he was moving ahead towards his maiden double century in ODIs. However, he scored a quick fire 131 off 96 balls. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma took a moment to wish his Mumbai Indians teammate for his achievement and gave him a warm hug on the ground. It seemed unusual to see a player hugging his opponent for his success but Rohit set an example of true sportsman spirit.
— Virat Kohli (@Cricvids1) August 31, 2017
Earlier, Kohli won the toss for the 6th time in this entire bilateral series and chose to bat first. Despite facing an early blow in the form of opener Shikhar Dhawan, the India batsmen performed phenomenally and outplayed the Lankan bowlers. Skipper Virat Kohli took 96 balls to score 131 runs which turned out to be the highest individual score made by any Indian captain against Sri Lanka. It was his 29th ODI century while Rohit Sharma scored his 13th ton of his career. Later, Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni played fabulously during the last 10 overs and added 101 runs for the 5th wicket. Indian successfully put 375 runs on board by the end of the innings and won the match by a record 168 runs.
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