Kohli cracks debut ton
Debutant amasses 224 partnership with 150-run Gautam Gambhir as India clinch series.
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| It’s already looking like all-in-a-night’s-work for Kohli, right [AFP] |
Gautam Gambhir cracked his seventh one-day century and Virat Kohli recorded his first to guide India to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth one-day international in Kolkata.
India secured a 3-1 series victory with a game to spare on Thursday.
Gambhir lashed a career-best 150 not out and Kohli, recalled in place of the injured Yuvraj Singh, scored 107.
The third-wicket pair put on 224 as India chased down an imposing 316 for victory with 11 deliveries to spare in the day-night game.
Man-of-the match Gambhir, who hit 14 fours in his 137-ball innings, took India to victory in the company of Dinesh Karthik (19 not out), scoring the winning runs with a boundary of paceman Lasith Malinga.
Opener Upul Tharanga struck his seventh century (118) to steer Sri Lanka to a challenging 315 for six after the tourists had elected to bat first.
The left-handed Tharanga hit 118 and shared an entertaining 126-run third-wicket stand with skipper Kumar Sangakkara (60).
In-form opener Tillakaratne Dilshan fell early to left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra, who missed a caught and bowled opportunity off Tharanga on seven.
Sanath Jayasuriya fell to Zaheer Khan for 15 before Sangakkara and Tharanga, who hit 14 fours and two sixes, came together.
‘Stepped up’
“We had so many debutants on our tour and some of them have really stepped up and that promises better things on future tours,” Sangakkara said.
“This is the most competitive we have been in the one-day arena since I debuted.”
Paceman Suranga Lakmal, playing in his second ODI, dismissed Virender Sehwag caught at backward point and Sachin Tendulkar caught at cover-point to put India under pressure in the absence of suspended captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj before Gambhir and Kohli took the game away from Sri
Lanka.
“The way Virat batted took a lot of pressure off my shoulders and we told ourselves to see what was happening after 35 overs, but then we didn’t need to take the powerplay,” Gambhir said.
The final match will be played in New Delhi on Sunday.