PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka (AP) Rohit Sharma hit an unbeaten century and shared an unbroken 157-run partnership with Mahendra Singh Dhoni to lead India to a six-wicket win Sunday over Sri Lanka in the third cricket one-day international. India clinched the five-match series with an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah took his maiden five-wicket haul to restrict Sri Lanka to 217-9 in 50 overs after home captain Chamara Kapugedara won the toss and chose to bat first.
In reply, India reached its target with 29 balls to spare, ending on 218-4 in 45.1 overs despite a shaky start.
India lost its first wicket on nine when fast bowler Lasith Malinga bowled in-form Shikhar Dhawan (5).
Captain Virat Kohli (3) was caught in the deep by Dushmantha Chameera off left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando with the total on 19.
India slumped to 61-4 when spinner Akila Dananjaya dismissed Lokesh Rahul (17) and Kedar Jadhav (0).
But Sharma and Dhoni steadied the innings and took their team to victory. Sharma was unbeaten on 124 off 145 deliveries, including 16 boundaries and two sixes. Dhoni hit a six and four boundaries for his unbeaten 67 off 86.
Dananjaya had best bowling figures for Sri Lanka, 2-38.
Kohli said he was not worried about his top order's unconvincing performance. India lost seven wickets for 131 runs in the second match before recovering to win.
''In the last game we had a bit of a collapse, today it was not a collapse,'' Kohli said. ''Honestly couple of those wickets you wouldn't get eight out of 10 times. They were just chances.''
''The other batsmen really applied themselves.''
Play was held up with India needing only eight runs to win after some Sri Lankan fans threw water bottles onto the field. The players retreated to the pavilion briefly but returned to complete the match after some spectators were evicted.
Earlier, Bumrah took his maiden five-wicket haul to overshadow a composed 80 from Lahiru Thirimanne, who was on his international return after more than a year. Bumrah returned 5-27 in 10 overs.
Sri Lanka failed to make a good start, losing two wickets for 28.
But Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal shared 72 for the third wicket to steady the innings. Chandimal scored 36 before being caught by Bumrah off seamer Hardik Pandya.
Sri Lanka's middle and lower middle order failed to capitalize on the recovery as the India bowlers picked up regular wickets.
Thirimanne, playing his first international match since June 2016, scored 80 off 105 deliveries including five boundaries and a six.
The fourth ODI is in Colombo on Thursday.
