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Virat Kohli has once proved that he is the one man army in the Indian cricket team. He played superb knock of 128 runs from just 119 balls with 12 fours and one huge six.

With the win in the 4th ODI match, India now leads the series with 3-1 against Sri Lanka. India has already won the 5 match series, yesterday’s match was played at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.

Ealier, Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat first and the home team managed 251 runs in 50 overs with 51 runs knock by opener Tharanga.

Batting second, India lost in-form Gautam Gambhir in the first over of the match, but Sehwag played his natural game hitting 34runs from 29 balls. Rohit Sharma was once again failed to grab the chance as he was out on just 4 runs.

However, Manoj Tiwari gave good support to Virat Kohli, and then Suresh Raina played cracking knock of 58 runs from just 51 balls hitting 4 fours and one huge six.

India achieved the target in 42.2 overs with 46 balls remaining.

Presentation:

Man-Of-The-Match Virat Kohli said, “It’s been going well for me, just trying to keep it simple, I got set and got out in the last match, I thought about it. It always pleases a sportsperson than when we perform and the team wins. (On Malinga) Luckily, I’m strong on the leg side, he’s the sort of bowler if you don’t get on top of him, he can change the match. I was very disappointed with the last match as I didn’t have the strike-rate to set up a platform for the side.”

Mahela Jayawardene: “To control that line-up you need to pick up wicket, that’s where we lacked in the last few games, dropping catches doesn’t help. The wicket was a touch slow, under lights the ball does a bit, the quicks bowled well, we didn’t bat well, 30-40 runs short. When you set a target like that, you set attacking fields, if you get through that initial period, it becomes easy for them. Lot of credit to Nuwan Pradeep, bowled with lot of pace, good control as well.”

MS Dhoni: “The part-timers bowled really well, the pace was important and they bowled to their field. What also matters is the variations you have, Manoj was the away going spinner for us, it was a good wicket, but they bowled well for us, we requested Manoj to bowl a lot in the net sessions, if we don’t get a perfect allrounder, we are comfortable playing seven batsmen. Kohli has improved a lot, once he gets set, he’s someone who doesn’t like to throw away his wicket, he’s a very improved cricketer, very hungry to get runs. Suresh Raina also, he bats at No. 6 or 7, the time has come for him to bat at 4 or 5.”

Live Scoreboard

Sri Lanka batting:

U.Tharanga st Dhoni b Ashwin 51 (73b, 1×6, 4×4), T.M.Dilshan c Dhoni b Dinda 42 (48b, 7×4), L.Thirimanne b Ashwin 47 (69b), D.Chandimal c Pathan b Tiwary 28 (32b, 2×4), M.Jayawardene c Dhoni b Sehwag 3 (3b), A.Mathews c Kohli b Tiwary 14 (34b, 1×4), J.Mendis b Tiwary 17 (16b 2×4), T.Perera c Raina b Tiwary 2 (3b), R.Herath (not out) 17 (15b, 1×6, 1×4), L.Malinga (not out) 15 (7b, 2×6) .Extras (lb 2, w 13) 15. Total (for 8 wickets in 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).

India bowling: Khan 6-0-36-0 (3w), Pathan 6-0-27-0 (1w), Dinda 6-0-28-1 (2w), Kohli 2-0-7-0, Sehwag 8-1-38-1 (1w), Ashwin 10-1-46-2, Tiwary 10-1-61-4 (6w), Sharma 2-0-6-0.

India batting:

G.Gambhir b Malinga 0 (5b), V.Sehwag c sub (Senanayake) b Mathews 34 (29b, 6×4), V.Kohli (not out) 128 (119b, 12×4, 1×6), R.Sharma lbw Pradeep 4 (14b), M.Tiwary lbw Mendis 21 (38b, 2×4), S.Raina (not out) 58 (51b, 4×4, 1×6). Extras (lb 2, w 6, nb 2) 10.Total (for 4 wickets in 42.2 overs) 255.

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

Sri Lanka Bowling: Malinga 8-1-41-1, Perera 6-0-51-0, Mathews 6-1-18-1, Pradeep 8-0-52-1, Herath 7-0-44-0, Mendis 6-0-37-1, Dilshan 1.2-0-10-0.