<p>When Ashish Nehra steamed into bowl the final delivery, with Sri Lanka needing five runs to win, a billion hearts might have skipped a beat or two. <br /><br />However, Nuwan Kulasekara could only take a run off the 300th legal delivery, bringing to an end an amazing day of cricket when 825 runs were scored in 100 overs, leaving the home side a three-run victory in the first of the five one-day series. <br /><br />Highest total<br /><br />The incandescence of Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan’s batting carried the Islanders to 411, so close to India’s 414.<br /><br />It was India’s highest total in one-day cricket, surpassing their previous best of 413 against Bermuda at Port of Spain in the 2007 World Cup. <br /><br />It was also only the second time two teams went past the 400-run mark in the same match, and the first occasion was that famous match involving Australia and South Africa at Johannesburg in 2006. <br /><br />Before Sri Lanka made a brave fist of their chase, it was the turn of Virender Sehwag and M S Dhoni to entertain the crowd on a pitch tailor-made to score runs. <br />Sehwag batted in the way only he can while racing to a buccaneering 146, his 12th one-day hundred and his highest score in ODIs so far. <br /><br />Dhoni’s feat<br /><br />Captain Dhoni, who en route to his half-century, completed 5,000 runs in his 152nd ODIs match, also achieved a landmark 200 dismissals in one-day cricket when he stumped Sanath Jayasuriya off Harbhajan Singh. A match of such nature will have a lot of records to offer. <br /><br />A unique feat that was achieved was the first and second wicket pairs of both the sides stitched together 150-run partnership, a first in the history of one-day cricket. <br /><br /> </p>
<p>When Ashish Nehra steamed into bowl the final delivery, with Sri Lanka needing five runs to win, a billion hearts might have skipped a beat or two. <br /><br />However, Nuwan Kulasekara could only take a run off the 300th legal delivery, bringing to an end an amazing day of cricket when 825 runs were scored in 100 overs, leaving the home side a three-run victory in the first of the five one-day series. <br /><br />Highest total<br /><br />The incandescence of Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan’s batting carried the Islanders to 411, so close to India’s 414.<br /><br />It was India’s highest total in one-day cricket, surpassing their previous best of 413 against Bermuda at Port of Spain in the 2007 World Cup. <br /><br />It was also only the second time two teams went past the 400-run mark in the same match, and the first occasion was that famous match involving Australia and South Africa at Johannesburg in 2006. <br /><br />Before Sri Lanka made a brave fist of their chase, it was the turn of Virender Sehwag and M S Dhoni to entertain the crowd on a pitch tailor-made to score runs. <br />Sehwag batted in the way only he can while racing to a buccaneering 146, his 12th one-day hundred and his highest score in ODIs so far. <br /><br />Dhoni’s feat<br /><br />Captain Dhoni, who en route to his half-century, completed 5,000 runs in his 152nd ODIs match, also achieved a landmark 200 dismissals in one-day cricket when he stumped Sanath Jayasuriya off Harbhajan Singh. A match of such nature will have a lot of records to offer. <br /><br />A unique feat that was achieved was the first and second wicket pairs of both the sides stitched together 150-run partnership, a first in the history of one-day cricket. <br /><br /> </p>
