Indian team played a perfect match to take the invincible 3-1 lead in the five match one-day series against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka who were in a must-win situation elected to bat first after winning the toss. They got off to a fairly decent start scoring 90 runs without losing a wicket.

Sri Lanka focused on not losing early wickets and they achieved that but failed to capitalize on the start in the middle overs as they kept, losing wickets in the middle order. Some lusty blows in the death overs took the home team past the 250 run-mark.

India lost Gambhir’s wicket very early in the innings but Sehwag and Kohli took the matters under control and punished the Sri Lankan new ball bowlers. India always stayed in front of the required run-rate and in the end achieved the target with more than seven overs to spare.

Both teams saw some good individual performance and some pretty ordinary ones. Let’s have a look at some of the hits and flops from either side:

Sri Lanka:

Hits:

Upul Tharanga: He was the highest run-scorer for Sri Lanka in this innings with a score of 51. He started off slowly and ensured that Sri Lanka don’t lose early wickets. He gave the home team a solid foundation only to see the middle-order faltering the good work.

Lahiru Thirimanne: He replaced Kumar Sangakkara in the squad and played a decent little innings. He scored 47 runs and was the last batsman to get out. He kept losing partners at the other end and did not get chance to free his arm.

Flops:

Mahela Jayawardene: A lot depended on him after Kumar Sangakkara’s injury, but the Sri Lankan captain did not do justice to his talent throwing his wicket away very early in his innings. He tried to scoop a Virender Sehwag delivery and gave an easy chance to Dhoni who grabbed it easily. He also missed an easy catch of Suresh Raina at the slips.

Thisara Perera: He was the hero for the home team in the second ODI but the last two matches haven’t been good for him. In this match he failed with the bat and bowled waywardly with the new ball. He kept bowling boundary balls to the Indians and the visitors didn’t fail to oblige.

India:

Hits:

Virat Kohli: He has been the best batsman for India off late and he continued his dream run on Tuesday. He exhibited flawless batting and never looked like getting out. He kept the asking run-rate in check and finished the match in style. He scored more than half the runs that India required.

Suresh Raina: He scored his third half-century of the series and was once again made sure that he is there till the end. Raina scored 58 fabulous runs and made sure that there is no late order jitters in the run-chase.

Manoj Tiwary: He played his first match of the series and made the impact straightaway, but not with the bat he made it with the ball in his hand. Sri Lankan batsmen struggled against his slow leg-spinners and he finished with four wickets against his name.

Flops:

Rohit Sharma: He once again failed with the bat and having him in the team doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Sharma who is considered to be a batsman with sound technique and a great style looked lost against all the 14 deliveries that he faced. He was stuck on not and played a wild stroke to open his account, he should consider himself lucky that he didn’t end up with a hat-trick of ducks. He ended his innings trying to play across the line of the ball. He has eight runs from four innings now.

By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News Network