Rohit Sharma played a gem of an innings at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata to give India a 4-0 lead over Sri Lanka in the 5-match ODI series. India won the match by 162 runs as the Lankans got bowled out for 251 in few more than 40 overs.
Winning the toss India decided to bat first. It was a shaky start by the Indians although Ajinkya Rahane was fluent enough during his short stay at the crease for 27 runs. Ambati Rayudu also failed to make an impact. It was then up to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to decide the future of the match.
Photo: Zee News
Rohit Sharma had already been dropped while he had scored only 4 runs and the Sri Lankans bowlers, perhaps for the first time in the series, were looking to threat the slightly inexperienced Indian batting line-up. However it was not to be. Rohit Sharma and Kohli at first steadied the innings as they played cautiously and then unleashed some deadly blows on the Lankan bowling attack from which they never managed to recover. Kohli got run out for 66 which resulted from a misunderstanding with Rohit Sharma. But Sharma made amends with some excellent display of batting. He went on to score 264 runs off just 173 balls as India set up a total of 404-6 at the end of 50 overs.
It was an incredible innings from Rohit Sharma and he couldn’t have chosen a better stage. He celebrated Eden Garden’s 150th year in style. Records went tumbling as he toyed with the Lankan attack in the 22 yards and it was just a treat to watch him play such an innings. He became the first individual to score 250 in one-day internationals. It’s his second double hundred in ODIs and it’s a feat which no one has achieved till now. Also his 264 has become the highest individual score in one-day internationals. He hit 33 fours and 9 sixes- a total of 186 is also a new world record. His 264 is also the highest score by any individual in ODI cricket- both men and women and he broke the record of Belinda Clark who scored 229 against Denmark in Mumbai on December 1997.
Now coming back to the match it can be said that Sri Lanka simply had no chance to make a game out of it. Still they could have put up a fight. Instead they succumbed to an inexperienced Indian bowling line-up led by Umesh Yadav. Anglo Matthews and Lahiru Thirimanna managed to score fifties but it just delayed the inevitable. In the end Sri Lanka lost by 162 runs. The worst thing is that they could not manage to get past Rohit Sharma’s individual score. It could not have been much more humiliating than this for a cricketing nation like Sri Lanka.
Amidst all these the teams will fly to Ranchi for the fifth ODI. India will look forward to make it 5-0 in the series and it does not seem impossible, at least after today’s performance. However Sri Lanka will surely look to salvage some sort of respect by putting up a spirited show in the final ODI.
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