Final game in Palekelle on Saturday, a no show:

Kohli 128 and Raina 58 in a stand of 146 steer India to series victory

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE reporting

A nicely carved out unbeaten century 128 from the consistent stylish right hander Virat Kohli who was involved in a stand of 146 for the fifth wicket with Suresh Raina 58 steered India to a six wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI and with it the series under lights at the R.Premadasa Stadium, yesterday.

The Fifth one-day to be played at the Palekelle Stadium on Saturday will now be a no show.

Indian cricketer Virat Kohli plays a shot during his innings of 128 not out in the fourth one day international yesterday. AFP

The Indians bowled tight and fielded well to restrict Sri Lanka to 251 for 8 and then got to the target - 255 losing four wickets.

When Lasith Malinga knocked back the stumps of ‘silent executioner’ Gautam Gambhir in the fifth ball of the first over with a stinging yorker for no score, it raised the hopes of the home team.

Then a 52-run stand between Virender Sehwag 34 and Virat Kohli for the second wicket in 51 balls put the batting back on rails and though losing the wickets of Rohit Sharma 4 and Manoj Tiwary 21, Kohli continued his good run and along with Suresh Raina took India to victory.

With the score on 112 for 4, there was a confident appeal for a catch behind by wicket keeper Chandimal off Raina who was on 2 off Rangana Herath. The close in fielders were confident that Raina got a touch and appealed vociferously. But umpire Kumar Dharamasena negatived the appeal. Had that wicket fallen, who knows the story could have been different.

During the blistering partnership between Kohli and Raina the Lankan fielding in the air and on the ground was putrid. Kohli’s 128 included one six and12 fours in 119 balls.

Raina’s 58 had 7 fours and a six made in 51 balls. The 146 run stand came in just 112 balls.

The teams made changes. Sri Lanka brought in Lahiru Thirimanne for the injured Kumar Sangakkara and dropped the wayward left arm opening bowler Isuru Udana and gave Nuwan Pradeep a go.

The accepted norm is that you don’t tinker with a winning combination. But the World Champions did otherwise dropping leg spinner Rahul Sharma and further strengthening the batting bringing in Manoj Tiwary a right hand bat and leg spin/googly bowler who has played six one-day games with a century.

It was a must win game for Sri Lanka to keep the series alive. For India a victory would see them pocketing the series.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene again beat Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the toss and elected to bat.

Sri Lanka would have been yearning for a score of anything over 280 to be competitive. Anything less would not suffice against a strong Indian batting line up beefed up with the inclusion of all rounder Manoj Tiwary.

But that yearning did not materialize with the home team making only 251 for 8.It would have been even worse had it not been for a slam of 32 runs for the 9th wicket between Rangana Herath and Lasith Malinga which realised 32 runs in 18 balls. Both batsmen cleared the ropes on three occasions. Malinga hitting two and Herath one which sent the sparse spectators into raptures. Herath remained unbeaten on 17 and Malinga 15.

Openers Tillekeratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga gave the Lankans a promising start putting on 91 for the first wicket. Dilshan made 42 and Tharanga 51. Of the other batmen Lahiru Thirimanne made 47.

Big batting guns Mahela Jayawardene 3, Angelo Mathews 14 and Thisara Perera 2 failed to help swell the total and so Sri Lanka had to be satisfied with 251 for 8 in 50 overs.

It was the Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashin 2 for 46 and Manoj Tiwary 4 for 61 who slammed the brakes on the Lankan batsmen. Off spinner Virender Sehwag captured the vital wicket of Jayawardene.

S C O R E C A R D

Sri Lanka:

U. Tharanga st Dhoni b Ashwin 		 51
T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Dinda 		 42
L. Thirimanne b Ashwin . 		 47
D. Chandimal c Pathan b Tiwary . 	 28
M. Jayawardene c Dhoni b Sehwag 	 03
A. Mathews c Kohli b Tiwary 		 14
J. Mendis b Tiwary 			 17
T. Perera c Raina b Tiwary 		 02
R. Herath not out 			 17
L. Malinga not out 			 15
Extras (lb2, w13) . 			 15
Total (for eight wickets; 50 overs) . 	251

Fall of wickets: 1-91 (Dilshan), 2-102 (Tharanga), 3-152 (Chandimal), 4-155 (Jayawardene), 5-190 (Mathews),
		 6-213 (Mendis), 7-218 (Perera), 8-219 (Thirimanne).

Bowling : Zaheer 6-0-36-0 (w3), Pathan 6-0-27-0 (w1), Dinda 6-0-28-1 (w2), Kohli 2-0- 7-0, Sehwag 8-1-38-1 (w1),
	  Ashwin 10-0-46-2, Tiwary 10-1- 61-4 (w6), Sharma 2-0-6-0.

		
India:

G. Gambhir b Malinga . 			 	 00
V. Sehwag c sub (S. Senanayake) b Mathews 	 34
V. Kohli not out . 				128
R. Sharma b Pradeep 				 04
M. Tiwary lbw b Mendis . 			 21
S. Raina not out . 				 58
Extras (lb2, nb2, w6) 				 10
Total ( for four wickets; 42.2 overs) . 	255

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Gambhir), 2-52 ( Sehwag ), 3-60 (Sharma), 4-109 (Tiwary).

Bowling : Malinga 8-1-41-1 (w2), Perera 6-0-51-0 (w3), Mathews 6-1-18-1, Pradeep 8-0-52-1 (nb2, w1), Herath 7-0- 44-0,
	  Mendis 6-0-37-1, Dilshan 1.2-0-10-0.