India vs Sri Lanka: 4th ODI, Kolkata - As it happened!

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 251 runs by India who posted a mammoth 404 run-total after batting first in the 4th ODI at Kolkata. After Rohit Sharma lit up the Eden with a scintillating double ton - second of his ODI career - the Indian bowlers made early incisions, reducing Sri Lanka to 48/4. Mathews and Thiri then combined to add a semblance of respectability to the Sri Lankan innings. However, Sri Lanka's batting powerplay voodoo continued as they lost 4 wickets. The match was all sewn up after Rohit's special powered India to 404. Rohit plucks out a stump as a souvenier and flashes a beaming smile. Dhawal was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 wickets while Yadav, Akshar and Binny collected 2 wickets each.

India scored a spectacular total of 404 runs at the loss of just five wickets after batting first against Sri Lanka. What a comeback by Rohit Sharma! He has been given a guard of honour by his team-mates. I have just run out of the superlatives to describe the innings, but will try to do my best. He started off in a scratchy manner. He was put down on 4 by Thisara (Perera), but once he got through the initial stages, he started middling the ball. In fact, he was 6(20) at one stage. The boundaries started to flow and he kept toying with the bowling. His first 50 took 72 balls, the next 214 runs came off 101 balls. The boundaries seemed very short to him and the bowling looked ordinary when he got going. He went past plenty of milestones, none more significant than the double hundred. Coming back to the rest of the batting, Rahane was looking in ominous touch before he played one across the line. Rayudu failed for the first time in the series, but Virat came in and became the able ally for Rohit. The pair added 202 runs for the 3rd wicket before Kohli was run-out. Uthappa played second fiddle to the on song Rohit and he too added a 100-plus stand with the opener. The less we say about Sri Lanka's bowling and fielding, the better. They simply seemed out of sorts with both ball and in the field. A herculean task lies ahead of them. Hopefully, they turn up with the bat at least and put up a much better performance.