India won the fourth ODI by the great performance of Youngsters!

Short Story of this Match:-

                                                                International wicket No. 1: Virender Sehwag. International wicket No. 2: Sachin Tendulkar. Both within seven balls, and before either could settle down in a stiff chase of 316. Suranga Lakmal would have happily taken it had Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir not staged a comeback with a 136-run unbeaten partnership and set India's chase up by the end of the third quarter of the match.

Playing only in his second match, Lakmal consistently bowled just back of a length, getting disconcerting bounce and movement because of his height. Sehwag lobbed him to cover-point playing a similar delivery off the back foot, while Tendulkar was done in by one that stopped on him and the cover-point came into play again. At 23 for 2 in the fourth over though, the two Delhi batsmen, Kohli and Gambhir, counterattacked.

Neither batsmen needed to take the aerial route. The only element of risk was Kohli's moving across the stumps, but his bat kept coming down at the right time. Debutant Thissara Perera went for 28 in his four overs, and was replaced by Lasith Malinga, who helped in opening the floodgates, just like Ishant Sharma did for Upul Tharanga earlier. Kohli flicked him for two boundaries in the leg side, and crashed him through the off side for two more off consecutive deliveries in his first over. After nine overs, India had galloped along to 70, and Kohli to 26 off 22.

Lakmal continued to get the odd ball to rise awkwardly, but he lacked support from the other end. And once India's run-rate went above the required rate, both the batsmen settled down into milking mode and waited for the loose balls. Malinga provided Gambhir with one in the 15th over, a delivery Gambhir just needed to pat to the square-leg boundary. In his next over, Malinga provided Kohli with ample width, and was cut away for four, taking India past 100.

With spin came signs that dew would have an effect on the remainder of the match. In his second over Suraj Randiv bowled a lob down the leg side, and Kohli took advantage. The boundary again took India ahead of the required rate, and in the next couple of overs both the batsmen reached their fifties. Gambhir exploited the third-man gap, using the pace on the skidding ball well, and brought up two more boundaries. The most worrying aspect for Sri Lanka was that the two had added those runs without a semblance of a risk.

50 overs Sri Lanka 315 for 6 (Tharanga 118, Sangakkara 60, Zaheer 2-49) v India

	Upul Tharanga cruised through to his century at nearly a run a ball as Sri Lanka piled up 300-plus © AFP

In one swift act of acceleration, and solid consolidation thereafter, Upul Tharanga almost single-handedly undid India's much-improved new-ball bowling and ground fielding. Tharanga's seventh century, his first in 53 innings and more than three years, made sure Sri Lanka recovered from the slowest start of the series, as well as the early dismissals of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya. India's fielding was a huge improvement over their earlier efforts, but they still dropped Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara. That cost them 171 runs, and left them chasing 300-plus - a total that did scant justice to the efforts of Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra who took 4 for 117 between them.

Before Tharanga opened up, though, some of the best opening bowling of the series was on display, making his effort all the more significant. Both Zaheer and Nehra came out with an effective plan for the Sri Lanka openers, and implemented it to near perfection. They kept two men on the leg-side boundary for Dilshan, the third man was left vacant, but no room was given and neither was he offered anything to drive.

As a result, India managed their first maiden of the series - bowled by Nehra - and not one boundary was conceded in the first five overs. In the first three matches, Sri Lanka reached their 50 in 3.4 overs, 6.3 overs, and 7.2 overs. At those various stages, Sri Lanka had scored 6 for 0, 23 for 0 and 24 for 0 today. It could have been worse for them had Nehra held on to a tough return catch from Tharanga, who was 7 then. The spell of containment proved too much for Dilshan, who finally pulled Nehra to fine leg, where Kohli took a smart low catch.

The dropped catch apart, Tharanga kept the bowlers at bay. He manufactured a couple of shots, backing away and pulling over mid-on, and made sure Sri Lanka were always one special over away from getting back on even terms. The moment arrived when Ishant Sharma was introduced, with the score 48 for 1 after 11 overs. Ishant provided him driving length, and also width. The first ball was slapped square, the second driven to cover where Raina saved four, the third lofted over point, the fourth and fifth gorgeously threaded through the gap between mid-off and extra cover, and a thick edge off the last ball ran fine of third man. All of a sudden, Tharanga was 45 off 43 balls.

Even through Zaheer got rid of Jayasuriya in the next over, the momentum was lost when Harbhajan Singh dropped Kumar Sangakkara at third man, off Ishant. Sangakkara got off the mark with the reprieve, and to rub it in, Tharanga crashed the next ball through the covers, bringing up his 10th boundary and his fifty in 45 balls.

A period of consolidation followed, and the pair added 126 runs in 23.4 overs without any concern. Tharanga continued to torment Ishant though, hitting back-to-back boundaries in his fifth over, and sent him out of the attack with figures of 0 for 55 in six overs. During the partnership, Tharanga cruised through to his century at nearly a run a ball, and Sangakkara looked ominous as he accelerated to another fifty. But he got too adventurous, and looked to paddle Harbhajan into the V behind the wicket, and was stumped.

However, the visitors were poised for the late assault. Zaheer and Nehra came back with good finishing spells, but India were shocked by debutant Thissara Perera who smashed 31 off 14 balls. To restore balance, Zaheer removed Tharanga, and Nehra accounted for Perera and Mahela Jayawardene. With the forces pulling in opposite directions, and failed flood lights providing a hold-up that would eat into the supper break, Sri Lanka added 79 in the last eight overs.