India won the fourth one-day international against Sri Lanka being played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in blistering fashion. Riding high on Virat Kohli's century and Suresh Raina's fifty, India beat the Lankans by 6 wickets to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
India had an inauspicious beginning, losing Gautam Gambhir in the very first over. He went without troubling the scorers.
Virender Sehwag then took it upon himself to do all the scoring. Sehwag scored a brisk 34 off 29 before his soft dismissal off the bowling of Angelo Mathews.
Virat Kohli was then joined in by the out of sorts but in-favour Rohit Sharma. Sharma flattered to deceive and was dismissed out lbw off Nuwan Pradeep for 4.
Rahul Sharma's replacement in the India line-up, Manoj Tiwary was given a chance ahead of Suresh Raina. Virat Kohli, who had started sedately, played like a champion in the middle overs and showed that why he is one of the best ODI batsmen in the world.
Manoj Tiwary, though, failed to impress, playing a reckless sweep to Jeevan Mendis. He was adjudged out lbw for 21 off 38 balls.
This is when India's troubles started but ended as soon as they had begun. Kohli was joined by a motivated and in-form Suresh Raina. Virat was batting on 42 off 58 balls when Raina came in.
Raina played the way he likes the best and attacked from the word go. He scored his fifty off 46 balls. His attacking play rubbed off on to Kohli, who too reached a brilliant century off 106 balls.
Earlier, Sri Lanka started off well with a solid 91-run opening partnership between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga. Indian bowlers, though, did strike twin blows in quick succession to remove both the openers.
It was Ashok Dinda who opened the wicket-taking for India. He got rid of Dilshan for 42 caught by Dhoni trying to pull one and top-edging it instead. Tharanga was the next to head to the pavilion after completing his fifty. He was dismissed stumped off Ashwin's straighter one.
Another 50-run partnership ensued between Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal before India struck back in quick succession again. This time Dinesh Chandimal was removed by the rather unexpected Manoj Tiwary for 28. In the very next over, Virender Sehwag then removed Mahela Jayawardena to give India the advantage as scoring slowed down.
Manoj Tiwary was then lucky yet again as a dangerous looking Angelo Mathews was dismissed for 14, caught in the deep by Virat Kohli. It seemed destined to be Tiwary's day as he proceeded to take a third wicket, accounting for Jeevan Mendis clean bowled off his bowling for 17.
The Indian middle-order batsman, not generally known for his bowling, added another wicket to his tally when he got the dangerous Thisara Perera for just 2.(NDTV)
