India vs Sri Lanka: Shikhar Dhawan Becomes Second Fastest Indian To Reach 4000-Run Mark

India opener Shikhar Dhawan's fine century helped the hosts register a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Thisara Perera-led Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam on Sunday to clinch three-match ODI series 2-1. Dhawan, who notched up his 12th ODI century, became the second fastest Indian batsman to reach the 4000 ODI run mark, taking 95 innings to reach the landmark. Only Virat Kohli, who took 93 innings to score 4000 runs, is ahead of the Delhi batsman. During his innings, Dhawan hit 13 boundaries and two maximums to score at a strike rate of 117.65. Dhawan had begun his innings carefully but changed his gears as the game progressed. He was ably supported by youngster Shreyas Iyer, who scored a quickfire 65.

Shikhar Dhawan was adjudged the man of the series for scoring 168 runs at an average of 84. "I feel that I'm batting my best and I know my game very well know and that's why my consistency has gone up. Technique, on the guard - where to stand and where not to - I'm an experienced player and I know how to handle the situation and as I mentioned those three are working well for me," Dhawan said.

The Dhawan Domination continues. Second consecutive half century for @SDhawan25 #TeamIndia #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/9LMSzl5sKy

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 17, 2017

"Whenever I score fifty, most of the times I try and convert it into a hundred and my conversion rate is quite high. It's a goal to win as a team. You try and win games as a team and individual performances come later. I'm happy that I led from the front and make my team go through the final and win the game. I want to thank the crowd for supporting us, they have been phenomenal," Dhawan further added.

South Africa's Hashim Amla holds the record for being the fastest to reach the landmark. He got to the milestone in 81 innings. Other batsmen on the list are West Indies legend Sir Viv Richards, England captain Joe Root and Australia's David Warner.

Other Indian batsmen who feature in the list are former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Ajay Jadeja, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Suresh Raina and Mohammad Azharuddin.

During the post-match presentation, India's stand-in captain Rohit Sharma said that he wants the team to perform with consistency abroad as well.

"We need to continue this consistency. We are going abroad now, the next one and half year will be challenging and we have to be ready for that. The youngsters bring a lot of energy and I'm sure they are ready for all the upcoming challenges," Rohit said.

With the ODI series in the bag, India will now turn their focus on the upcoming three-match T20 series which starts on December 20.