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Shikhar Dhawan carries Test form into ODIs, fans hold up Sri Lanka team bus

India opener Shikhar Dhawan just continued from where he left off in the Test series and slammed his 11th hundred in the first ODI against Sri Lanka at Dambulla on Sunday.

Dhawan reached the triple figure mark in just 71 balls and remained unbeaten on 132 with 20 boundaries and three sixes as India chased down the target of 217 in just 28.5 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

"Things have been going well for me and I've just been focussing on my processes. I have mental freedom and when you perform well, you have extra confidence.

"By the grace of god, things are going my way. Just wanted to play positively and on the merit of the ball today," Dhawan said after receiving the Man of the Match award.

Dhawan, who was the Man of the Series in the three-match Test series which India won 3-0, has been in outstanding form since the ICC Champions Trophy in June where he amassed 338 runs in five matches with a highest score of 125. In the recently-concluded Test series the southpaw had scored 358 runs in three matches at 89.50 with two hundreds and a highest scored of 190.

Dhawan, batting in his 86th innings, is now tied with Australian opener David Warner as the joint-fourth quickest batsmen to score 11 hundreds. South Africa's Hashim Amla (64 innings) is the quickest batsman to reach the mark. Captain Virat Kohli is the quickest Indian to score as many hundreds in just 82 innings.

Dhawan's ton was the fastest by an Indian batsman in Sri Lanka as he brought it up with a boundary off spinner Wanidu Hasaranga in the 22nd over of the second innings. This is Dhawan's eighth century in away from home and the sixth while chasing.

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