Related Links: Micromax Cup 2012: India’s Tour of Sri Lanka 2012 : Scorecard – SL Vs India, 4th ODI at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
A superb partnership of 146 runs in just 112 balls between Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina helped India to overwhelm Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the Fourth ODI of the Micromax Cup 2012 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. India have also captured the 5-ODI Series 3-1 with the final match to be played on the 4th of August. The 23-year-old Virat Kohli registered his 13th ODI century to anchor the Indian victory. This happens to be the 400th win for India in ODI history.
Highlights of Sri Lanka Innings – Manoj Tiwary’s 4 for 61 helps India restrict Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first and despite a solid opening stand of 91 in 18.2 overs, the hosts could only put up 251 for 8 on the board. The chief contributors for the Lankans were Upul Tharanga (51 from 73 balls with 4 fours and a six), Tillakaratne Dilshan (42 from 48 balls with 7 fours) and Lahiru Thirimanne (47 from 69 balls). The Sri Lankan batsmen struggled to put away the part-time spinners used by MS Dhoni.
Manoj Tiwary, who came in this match in the place of Rahul Sharma, went onto take a career best of 4 for 61 while bowling a full quota of 10 overs with his part-time leg breaks. All the four wickets taken by Tiwary were of key strokemakers – Dinesh Chandimal (caught at deep mid wicket pulling a long hop), Angelo Mathews (caught at long off), Jeevan Mendis (bowled round his legs in a reverse sweep) and Thisara Perera (caught at long on).
Apart from Tiwary, R Ashwin with 10-1-46-2, Ashok Dinda with 6-0-28-1 and Virender Sehwag with 8-1-38-1 bowled well for India.
Highlights of India Innings – Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina partnership takes India to victory
In the run chase, India lost last match centurion Gautam Gambhir for a duck in the very first over but recovered through a 52-run stand between Virender Sehwag (34 from 29 balls with 6 fours) and Virat Kohli. Sri Lanka were hot favourites when they reduced the visitors to 109 for 4 in the 24th over but Virat Kohli (128* from 119 balls with 12 fours and a six) and Suresh Raina (58* from 51 balls with 4 fours and a six) took India home with their brilliant partnership.
India finished the run chase of 252 in just 42.2 overs to win the 4th ODI with 46 balls to spare. The Player of the Match was Virat Kohli for his 13th ODI hundred.