Once again the coin fell in the favour of Virat Kohli before he opted to bat first on a very flat wicket at Colombo.
Kohli and Rohit ensured that he made the most of the flat wicket in 4th ODI and smashed the bowlers to all corners of the ground during their stay at the crease after opting to bat first.
India lost Dhawan early, but once Kohli arrived, with his partner Rohit Sharma smacked the Lankan attack in the first 25 overs.
The duo added a record 219 runs to the board, including a breezy 75 ball ton from the skipper himself. Rohit was no where behind and scored his second successive century.
Kohli departed for 131, laying a solid platform for a mammoth total on the board, but Sri Lanka made a mini comeback by removing Rohit, Pandya and KL Rahul in a short span of time. After these wickets fell down, Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni took over the proceedings.
Manish Pandey scored an unbeaten half century whereas MS Dhoni, who was playing his 300th ODI feel just one short of his 50, and remained not out on 49. India ended with a huge total of 375/5 in their full quota. Angelo Matthews was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/24 in 6 overs.
Chasing 376, Sri Lanka lost Dickwella early through Dhoni's smart DRS. KL Rahul, who could not do anything great with the bat made a contribution in the field with a direct hit to send Kusal Mendis back towards the pavilion.
Later, when Lahiru Thiramanne and debutant Munaweera departed, a come back seemed to be impossible for the hosts. Angelo Matthews fought a lone battle and scored 70 runs before Sri Lanka suffered a huge 168 run loss.
Sri Lanka will look to take some pride by winning the final game and also prevent a whitewash in the ODI Series.
Cheers,
Sparsh
Sparsh
Next match is do or die for SL. You will see many players cheating around and even few wrong decision by umpires during live wire moment.
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