Virat Kohli 'amazed' after India sweep ODI cricket series against Sri Lanka

Virat Kohli hit his second century in a row as India thrashed Sri Lanka by six wickets in the fifth one-day international on Sunday to inflict a humiliating 5-0 series defeat on the beleaguered hosts.

Kohli smashed nine fours in his unbeaten 110-run knock to help the visitors achieve the target of 239 with 21 balls to spare at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo.

The series win came after India swept the preceding three-Test rubber 3-0, capping their domination of the home side which has been beset by injury and selection woes.

This was India's second 5-0 whitewash in an away ODI series with Kohli's men having blanked Zimbabwe in 2013.

Sri Lanka squandered the opportunity to salvage some pride, folding up for a below-par 238 in 49.4 overs after paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar grabbed a career-best 5-42.

"It's quite amazing to have won the series 5-0. We always thought the shorter format is going to be much more challenging," Kohli said. "The youngsters and the spunk on the field has worked for us. All round, it's been a complete series for us. We've been playing some good cricket."

The Indians had a shaky start but Kohli anchored the innings with a 99-run partnership with Manish Pandey (36) for the third wicket.

He also put on 109 runs with Kedar Jadhav who scored a fine 63 off 73 balls.

Kohli, 28, looked in sublime form, hitting Milinda Siriwardana for three fours in an over to bring up his half-century.

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The right-hander went on to complete his 30th ODI century, equalling former Australian captain Ricky Ponting's tally.

Only Indian hero Sachin Tendulkar has scored more centuries in the 50-over game with 49 tons.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar made the most of the conditions, reducing Sri Lanka to 40-2 before Lahiru Thirimanne (67) and Angelo Mathews stitched together a 122-run stand for the fourth wicket to steady the innings.

The dismissal of the two set batsmen triggered a collapse that saw the hosts lose seven wickets for 53 runs.

"It is a very difficult time for us. We were not up to the standard," Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga said.

"We lost a few early wickets. Thirimanne and Mathews had a good partnership. At one stage we were looking at 260-270. Unfortunately we collapsed again.

"We have to improve all three departments, especially our batting. We couldn't get those big scores in all five games. We lost a few main players, but still as a captain I feel we didn't play to our standard."

Mathews gave an easy catch to wicketkeeper MS Dhoni off spinner Kuldeep Yadav (1-40) after making 55 off 98 deliveries.

Thirimanne, who hit three fours and a six in his 102-ball knock, was bowled by Bhuvneshwar, the man of the match.

Dhoni passed a career milestone when he stumped Akila Dananjaya (4) off the bowling of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, his 100th in ODIs.

Dhoni became the first to achieve the feat, surpassing former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara who had 99 stumpings to his credit.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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