SL V IND, 4th ODI Review: India Thrash Lanka To Go Up 4-0 1

At first, it seemed, not one but two double hundreds were on its way. Some speculated ODI cricket’s first triple century after witnessing the manner in which Virat Kohli was batting initially. There were murmurs of Rohit getting his third double ton as well.

The Lankan bowlers had their shoulders down. Every ball that Kohli or Rohit hit, somehow, managed to find the gaps and cross the boundary ropes. If that was not the case, misfields and dropped catches made the ordeal look like a harassment of bowlers.

This was the story in the first half of Indian innings as all sort of optimistic speculations caught the imagination.

Sri Lanka’s condition as a cricket team is worsening with each passing day. Today at the R. Premadasa Stadium, they produced yet another heavy defeat, giving India a 4-0 lead in the 5-match series.

Vishwa Fernando snapped up Shikhar Dhawan to give a positive start. But, this was trouble in disguises as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli combined to clobber the Lankan bowling attack.

The two added 219 runs for the 2nd wicket in just 28 overs’ time to put India looking well set for a 400 plus total.

But, there was a sudden slump and out of nowhere, the Lankans were back into the game.

The field which was spread wide to guard the boundaries turned offensive as a short leg was brought in soon when Hardik Pandya came out to bat following the loss of Virat Kohli in the 29th over by Lasith Malinga.

Kohli’s attempt to clear a yorker length delivery over the mid-off boundary ropes failed miserably. He hit it well but the distance as missing and Munaweera were not even required to move an inch to catch the ball and bring the breakthrough which also was Malinga’s 300th wicket.

Kohli fall was unexpected. After reaching his century in just 76 deliveries, Kohli was operating at a strike rate of 136.46 with 17 fours and 2 sixes to his name at the time of his departure.

But, with a platform well set, it was hoped that a single wicket wouldn’t make much difference. Rohit Sharma, who was nearly his century at the time of Kohli’s departure, now had Hardik Pandya as a partner.

But, Malinga saw this opportunity as the last measure to stay in the contest. His decision to become more aggressive worked well as Akila Dananjaya and Siriwardana operated like misers to build pressure.

While the spinner did their job, fit again Angelo Mathews sprung a surprise to remove both Pandya and Sharma off successive deliveries to reduce India to 262/4. Rahul’s failure to get going saw India go down five wickets down as the right hander got caught off Dananjaya’s bowling.

It was a real breather for the hosts after all the bashing they received earlier in the innings. However, after this burst of bowling performance, things were again brought under control by Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni who stitched up a balanced partnership of 101 runs to take India to 375/5.

The response was underwhelming as Sri Lanka lost top three, comprising of Niroshan Dickwella, Dilshan Munaweera and Kusal Mendis inside the first eight overs. The chase was dented further when Lahiru Thirimanne, who hits an impressive fifty in the last game, was removed for 18 in the 16th over.

Angelo Mathews (70 from 80 deliveries) was the only outstanding performer. His effort could have never been enough, in all sense, as wicket kept falling from one end regularly. Some respite did come in the form of Milinda Siriwardana (39) and Wanindu Hasaranga (22), but they could not stay long enough.

Meanwhile, after India’s huge victory over the hosts, Sachin Tendulkar took it to Twitter to congratulate the skipper and vice-captain.