Sri Lanka Vs India 4th ODI: Twitter Reacts As India Thrash Hosts By 168 Run 1

Riding on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s blistering centuries, India thrashed Sri Lanka by 168 runs in the fourth One-Day International at Colombo on Thursday (August 31) to edge one step closer to inflict a whitewash on the struggling hosts.

Chasing an improbable 376 to register their first win of the series, the Islanders suffered yet another top-order collapse with their top-three- Niroshan Dickwella, Dilshan Munaweera, and Kusal Mendis- back in the pavilion with only 37 runs on the board. The home side was soon four down after Hardik Pandya accounted for Lahiru Thirimanne to leave them reeling at 68 for 4.

Former captain Angelo Mathews and Milinda Siriwardana then steadied the ship with a 73-run stand before Pandya struck again to remove the latter for 39. Mathews soon scored his fifty but saw another batsman departing from the other end as Wanidu Hasaranga was run-out for 22 with the scoreboard reading 177 for 6. Axar Patel then all but sealed the fate of the game in India’s favor by sending back Angelo Mathews for 70. Sri Lanka’s tail did not take last long as the hosts were bowled out for 207.

Earlier, India went off to a poor start with Shikhar Dhawan getting dismissed for just four but what followed after that was total carnage as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli began playing their shots at will, taking the Sri Lankan bowlers to the cleaners. By the time the 20th over ended, the scoreboard had read a daunting 148 for 1. The duo continued to bat in the same manner, fully capitalizing on the flat track as Kohli reached his 29th century off just 76 balls. The partnership between that was worth a staggering 219 finally came to an end when Kohli became Lasith Malinga’s 300th ODI dismissal. The India skipper scored 131 off just 96 balls with the help of 17 fours and a couple of maximums.

Soon, Rohit Sharma also scored his century, his second in as many matches, before Sri Lanka threatened to derail India’s innings by dismissing Rohit and Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul in quick succession. However, Manish Pandey (50 not out off 42) and MS Dhoni (49 not out off 42), helped India to close the innings on a great note by sharing an unbeaten partnership of 101 runs off only 50 balls.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:

https://twitter.com/FarziCricketer/status/903214790746574848