Sri Lanka registered yet another poor performance with both bat and ball as they lost the 4th ODI against India by 168 runs; the hosts’ largest margin of defeat at home in terms of runs. Chasing 376 for victory, the Lions only managed 207 all out in 42.4 overs.
Virat Kohli won the toss for the 6th time on tour and chose to bat this time around on a flat track at the R Premadasa. A blistering 219 run stand for the 2nd wicket between Kohli and Rohit Sharma set the stage for a mammoth total for the visitors after Vishwa Fernando struck to remove Shikhar Dhawan in the 2nd over of the game.
Sri Lanka had no answers to the batting prowess of the two right-handers as they dominated the inexperienced Sri Lankan bowling attack. At 225/1 in the 29th over, the highest ODI total of 444 looked seriously under threat as the pair tore through the bowlers, sending the ball to the boundary at will.
In the end, India would perhaps even be slightly disappointed with the total of 375 as the middle order failed to capitalize on the start given by the two senior batsmen. Kohli became Lasith Malinga’s 300th ODI victim, as the Indian skipper drove in the air to sweeper cover.
Angelo Mathews picked up Sharma and Hardik Pandya with consecutive deliveries to pull the scoring rate back somewhat and Akila Dhananjaya dismissed KL Rahul for the 3rd time in as many matches to hold the visitors back.
Manish Pandey, a new addition to the Indian series, made a quickfire half century as he put on 101 runs for the 6th wicket alongside MS Dhoni as India finished on 375/5.
Mathews was the only Lankan bowler to go for less than 5 runs an ver as he bowled an economical 6 over spell which yielded 2 wickets for 24 runs.
Sri Lanka’s chase got off to a poor start once again as Niroshan Dickwella was caught down the leg-side off the bowling of Shardul Thakur and Kusal Mendis was run-out soon after to leave the hosts on 26/2 in just over 5 overs.
The wickets continued to tumble as the asking rate skyrocketed, leaving the middle order too much to do. Angelo Mathews fought hard in the middle to make a valiant 70 and was briefly supported by the two elegant left-handers Lahiru Thirimanne and Milinda Siriwardene but it was never going to be enough for the hosts as India continued to chip away at the batting line-up.
Although the expectation was that Sri Lanka would do much better chasing a score rather than setting one, it made no difference in the end as they succumbed to their heaviest defeat at home in terms of runs.
Once again it was an all-round effort by the Indians, with each frontline bowler picking up at least one wicket and two run-outs seeing to the dismissals of Kusal Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga.
The 5th and final ODI will be on the 3rd of September.
