Diwali-eve fireworks by wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who smashed a dazzling unbeaten 183, took India to a 3-0 lead in the seven-match one-day series against Sri Lanka at Jaipur today.
Ten towering sixes and 15 fours studded Dhoni's 145-ball innings which fell 11 runs short of the world record one-day score of 194 by Pakistan's Saeed Anwar. This is the joint second highest score by an Indian, shared with former skipper Sourav Ganguly, after Sachin Tendulkar's 186 against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999.
Dhoni, who broke the record for maximum sixes by an Indian, completely overshadowed a sterling 138-run knock by his Sri Lankan counterpart Kumar Sangakkara as India recorded a comfortable six-wicket victory, overhauling the target of 299 with 3.5 overs to spare.
Dhoni's score also equalled Ganguly's 183 which also came against Sri Lanka at Taunton during a World Cup match in 1999.
The 24-year-old Jharkhand batsman put on valuable partnerships with Virender Sehwag (38) and skipper Rahul Dravid (28) after the in-form Tendulkar was dismissed cheaply for two in the very first over.
Dhoni brought the winning runs in style, with a huge six off Tillekeratne Dilshan.
The Sri Lankans put up a much improved performance with the bat but their goodwork was undone by some unimaginative bowling on a batsman-friendly track. Champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was also rendered largely ineffective, although he emerged as the most successful bowler with figures of 2-46. The teams will now travel to Pune where the fourth one-day international will be played on Thursday.
Earlier, India were off to a disastrous start, losing Tendulkar in the very first over to Chaminda Vaas. Chasing a delivery outside the off-stump, the little master, who had slammed 93 and 67 not out in the matches at Nagpur and Mohali, ended up offering a catch to Sangakkara.
But Dhoni was in a belligerent mood, so much so that he even overshadowed Sehwag.
He picked speedster Fervez Maharoof for special treatment, hitting a six and two fours in the seventh over and three fours in the bowler's next over, prompting skipper Marvan Atapattu to pull him out ofthe attack after he had bowled just two overs, which cost a huge 27 runs.
Dhoni and Sehwag entertained the partisan 23,000 crowd with their aggressive strokeplay and put on 92 runs off 85 balls for the second wicket before the Delhi opener was trapped leg before by Vaas for 39 which came off 37 balls with the help of three fours.
But there was no stopping Dhoni, who littered the outfield with fours and sixes. He raced to his 50 off 40 balls with six fours and three sixes and put on 86 runs with new batsman Dravid who made 28 off 34 before being caught and bowled by Muralitharan,the scoreboard reading 185 for three.
Dhoni reached his 100 with an exquisite straight drive off Upul Chandana. He needed 85 balls to slam his second one-day international hundred, an effort studded with 10 fours and five sixes. The 24-year old then made Atapattu repent his decision to bring onMaharoof again, hitting the bowler for a six and a four to extract 14 runs from the paceman's over.
Dilshan received a similar welcome.
India's 200 came in only 29.1 overs, with the run rate hovering around six an over.