India beat Sri Lanka in the 4th ODI by 6 wickets to take a 3-1 lead in the series. With just 1 game to go, India have now sealed the series. This is their 3rd consecutive ODI Series win in Sri Lanka in the past 4 years.
Virat Kohli and Manoj Tiwary were the stars as far as India are concerned. Manoj Tiwary was surprisingly the pick of the bowlers a he bagged 4 crucial wickets to restrict Sri Lanka to 251/8. Later Virat Kohli scored his 13th ODI ton to take India home. Kohli remained not out on 128 in 119 balls.
Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first. Dilshan(42) and Tharanga(51) got India off to an excellent start and added 91 for the first wicket. But after the spinners were introduced, it really put a lid on the scoring and no batsman could score quickly. Manoj Tiwary, Sehwag and Ashwin did not allow Sri Lanka to get away with the game. Sri Lanka finally ended on 251/8 in 50 overs.
India got off to the worst start possible as Gambhir was bowled by Malinga in the very first over on 0. Kohli and Sehwag added 52 for the 2nd wicket before Sehwag was dismissed by Mathews. Rohit sharma and Manoj Tiwary too did not last long and India were reduced to 109/4. India were looking in trouble.
But Kohli and Raina played some attacking shots in the batting powerplay and scored 55 runs in that period of 5 overs. Kohli and Raina shared an unbveaten stand of 146 runs in just 112 balls. Kohli hit his second 100 of the series, while Raina hit his 3rd 50 of the series. India got to the target with 7.4 overs to spare. The last ODI will be played at Pallekele on Saturday.
MATCH SUMMARY
MATCH SUMMARY
|
SRI
LANKA
|
251/8
(50)
|
|
Tharanga-51 (73)
|
Tiwary-4/61
|
|
Thirimanne-47 (69)
|
Ashwin-2/46
|
|
Dilshan-42 (48)
|
Dinda-1/28
|
|
Chandimal-28 (32)
|
Sehwag-1/38
|
|
INDIA
|
255/4
(42.2)
|
|
Kohli-128* (119)
|
Mathews-1/18
|
|
Raina-58* (51)
|
Mendis-1/37
|
|
Sehwag-34 (29)
|
Malinga-1/41
|
|
Tiwary-21 (38)
|
Pradeep-1/52
|
India Win By 6 Wickets, Lead Series 3-1
Man of the Match- Virat Kohli
