Champions Trophy: Kohli, Karthik tons seal win

Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik smashed a century each as India warmed up their Champions Trophy campaign with a five-wicket thumping of Sri Lanka in their first practice game here on Saturday. HT reports.

Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik smashed a century each as India warmed up their Champions Trophy campaign with a five-wicket thumping of Sri Lanka in their first practice game here on Saturday.

Kohli (144) teamed up with Dinesh Karthik (106 not out) to rescue India from a wobbly start with a 186-run stand for the fifth wicket in just 23.2 overs to chase down a huge target of 334 with one over to spare.

India were reduced to 62 for three in the 13th over and then to 110 for four in the 21st over before Kohli and Karthik resurrected the innings and sent the Sri Lankan bowlers for a leatherhunt in the second part of their run chase.

Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews used nine bowlers in the 15-a-side warm-up game and all of them were punished by Kohli and Karthik.

Kohli, who was coming at the back of a strong performance in the recent T20 league, struck 11 fours and three sixes in his 120-ball flawless innings.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shaminda Eranga, Rangana Herath, Mahala Jayawardene, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Jeevan Mendis, Kushal Perera, Thisara Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachithra Senanayake, Lahiru Thirimanne.