Crowd trouble forced the umpires to stop play for about 35 minutes when India were cruising to a series clinching win in the third ODI in Pallekele on Sunday. India were 210 for four after 44 overs, needing another eight runs to win, when players were sent back into the dressing room, following the rowdy behavior from the home supporters, who resorted to throwing bottles into the field of play. Rohit Sharma was batting on 122 and M S Dhoni on 61 when play was halted. As the umpires worked towards resuming play, the former India captain, unperturbed by the crowd chaos, opted to take a nap on the field.
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Security forces were called in to evict spectators from some of the sections in the gallery before the match resumed. The scenes were reminiscent of 1996 World Cup semifinals at the Eden Gardens where India had to forfeit the match against Sri Lanka following crowd trouble.
Rohit and Dhoni stitched an unbeate 157-run stand with India reaching the victory target of 218 in 45.1 overs.
It was the seventh successive bilateral series victory against Sri Lanka. India last lost a ODI series to island nation in 1997.
