Team India have finally beaten Sri Lanka in the 4th crucial One Day International cricket match played yesterday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. They now have a series victorious 3-1 lead over the visiting side with the last match left to be played in Delhi.
In a low scoring pitch where the average scores are just about 230 runs the Sri Lankan team set the record for the highest ever batting total in this ground, also becoming the first ever team to post a total of 300 runs or more.
As Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat the Indian bowlers for the first time in this tournament gave the openers a tough time conceding just 9 runs in the first 5 overs. The dangerous in-form Dilshan eventually got out in the 8th over scoring just 9 runs of 19 balls – his worst batting figures of the series.
His opening partner Upul Tharanga, however had other plans. Tharanga powered the Sri Lankan attack and looked in magnificent touch, displaying top class technique and even shattering the bowling of Ishant Sharma in the very first over of his innings scoring 20 runs off 5 boundaries. Ishant’s poor run of form continued as he went on to concede 67 runs in a spell of 7 overs with an economy rate of 9.5 runs an over. Tharanga went on to score a well paced hundred – his first ODI ton in the last 3 years. He got out scoring 118 of 128 balls with 14 boundaries and 2 sixes.
Meanwhile India’s sloppy work in the field continued troubling them in this match as well. Ashish Nehra dropped a return catch off Dilshan while Harbhajan Singh dropped an easy catch off captain Kumar Sangakkara while he was yet to get off the mark. Sangakkara then went on to score 60 runs off 72 deliveries. With a fielding coach at their side India are yet to learn the all important “catches-win-matches” theory as an international side.
Towards the end of the innings former captain Jayawardane, debutant Perera and lower order player Kandamby contributed scores of 33, 31 and 29 respectively as Sri Lanka managed to pile up a total of 315 runs for 6 wickets at the end of their 50 overs, setting India a target of 316 runs to win.
It looked like an extremely difficult pitch to bat on while Indian openers Sachin Tendulkar and stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag came out to bat as pacy deliveries repeatedly swung away and onto the batsmen, giving them a difficult time. Though Sehwag slapped a boundary off the very first ball of the innings he didn’t last for long as he got out caught to Dilshan off the bowling of Lakmal. Meanwhile Sachin scored two boundaries but he got out too, giving Lakmal his second breakthrough.
From then on India had no looking behind in the batting lineup as young Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir lead from the front on a determined fightback by the Indian team. As the stage was set for Kohli to prove his batting abilities and Gambhir to continue with his spectacular run of form in 2009, the two batsmen kept on rotating strikes, taking singles and hitting the bad balls for boundaries.
India’s young guns weren’t taking any risks at all as they had plenty of overs in hand and keeping in mind the fact that patience and temperament are what mattered in this crucial run chase. Both players were scoring neck to neck at a strike rate of over 90 runs while ensuring that the asking rate never came below 7 runs per over.
As both players cruised along not taking any risks, Kohli went on to score his maiden international century – one which the young man would remember for a long long time. Gambhir in the very next ball joined the club, scoring his century as well. The two openers set a record 224-run partnership between them as Kohli eventually got out while he tried to hit one over the top and was caught at long on, scoring 107 off 114 balls. This was his test, the test of patience and skill in which he proved to the world that he is worth being ranked aside any other batsman of international batting standards.
Gambhir though went on and on and on. As Dinesh Karthik replaced Kohli out at the center, what looked like a mammoth target suddenly became just another normal cakewalk run chase for any batting side. Karthik provided the strong support to the set batsman Gambhir like he did to Sachin in just the previous match. It was Gambhir who finally smashed the winning runs for India off a boundary which took him to an unbeaten score 150 runs in just 137 balls, creating no room for arguments about him being one of the best batsmen in modern day world cricket. He was awarded the man of the match for his knock as Zaheer Khan got the award for the best bowler of the match.
The 5th and final ODI will be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi on the 27th of December.
On behalf of the All About India team I wish you a Merry Christmas. We hope you have a wonderful time with your family and/or friends on this auspicious day 
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