India 255-4 (Virat Kohli 128*, Suresh Raina 58*, Angelo Mathews 1-18) beat Sri Lanka 251-8 (Upul Tharanga 51, Lahiru Thirimanne 47, Manoj Tiwari 4-61) by 6 wickets.

Virat Kohli once again destroyed the bowling of Sri Lanka by thrashing a ton in the fourth ODI and Suresh Raina assisted him well as India won the encounter.

Sri Lanka managed 251 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the metered 50 overs and India achieved the target by plundering 255 runs with six wickets in hand.

Virat Kohli (India) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his excellent unbeaten knock of 128 scored off just 119 balls.

The fourth One Day International of the five match series was played at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Tuesday, July 31, 2012.

Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene, the captain of Sri Lanka, won the toss and elected to bat. The innings was opened by their regular openers, Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan and the latter initiated with a couple of fours in the first two overs. Dilshan carried on picking up the runs as Tharanga got his first four in the 10^th over and the score reached 45 runs after the over was completed.

Tharanga lofted Ashok Dinda for the first six in the 13^th over and posted two consecutive fours in the 18^th over. The first wicket contributed 91 runs in 18.2 overs when Dilshan top edged and was caught by the wicketkeeper, MS Dhoni, for 42 off 48 balls with 7 fours. Upul Tharanga followed him 11 runs later after scoring 51 from 73 deliveries with 1 six and 4 fours.

Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal joined together and added 8 runs in the 23^rd over. Thirimanne was dropped on 16 by Virat Kohli at short extra cover off Virender Sehwag but Chandimal became the next victim at 152 at his individual feat of 28 runs. Thiriminne held the innings together with a little contribution from the other batsmen as the wickets kept on sliding at regular intervals. He became the 9^th batsman who went back to the pavilion for 47 off 69 balls without scoring any boundary.

Rangana Herath and Lasith Malinga scored 32 quick fired runs in the last three overs as Sri Lanka managed 251 runs with two wickets in hand at the end of the 50^th over.

Manoj Tiwary was the most successful bowler with four wickets, Ravichandran Ashwin held two whereas Ashok Dinda and Virender Sehwag claimed one wicket each.

India made a horrible beginning as the centurion of the third ODI, Gautam Gambhir was clean bowled by Lasith Malinga without any run on board. Virat Kohli joined with Virender Sehwag who dispatched 11 runs in the second over with two back to back fours. Kohli opened his account with a single on the fourth ball he faced as Sehwag continued with his aggressive style and hit two fours in the sixth over.

The score was enhanced to 52 in 9.2 overs when Sehwag was gone at his personal contribution of 34 off 29 balls with 6 fours. The poor form of Rohit Sharma in the series continued when he was declared leg before wicket off the debutant, Nuwan Pradeep, for just four runs and the Blue Shirts were in a bit of trouble at 3-60 in 12.4 overs.

Manoj Tiwary came in next and started the repair work by providing the required assistance to Kohli and the first hundred of the innings appeared on board in the 21^st over. The total was enhanced to 109 runs in 23.4 overs when Jeevan Mendis claimed the wicket of Tiwary after he had scored 21 runs. Kohli achieved his fifty on the third ball of the 28^th over with a single and continued with his superb form.

Suresh Raina took guards in the centre and got a life when he was dropped by Mahela Jayawardene off Pradeep at 19 on the fourth ball of the 33^rd over. The young batting duo started playing a calculated march towards the target with the regular boundaries. Raina gathered 13 runs in the 37^th over with one six and one four and Thisara Perera was punished by both batsmen for 15 runs with one six and two fours.

Suresh Raina completed his 24^th ODI fifty on the first ball of the 40^th over, Virat Kohli smashed his 13^th ODI ton on the second ball and was dropped on the fourth ball. Raina hit the second ball of the 42^nd over for a four as India hammered 255 runs for the loss of just four wickets. Kohli remained unbeaten for 128 off 119 deliveries with 1 six and 12 fours as Raina secured his end with 58 from 51 balls with 1 six and 4 fours.

Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Pradeepo and Jeevan Mendis shared one wicket each.

India won the match authoritatively with a huge margin of six wickets and won the ongoing series 3-1. The fifth and final ODI will be played on August 4, 2012, at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.