Sri Lanka vs India, 4th ODI at Colombo, , Feb 05 2009 - Ball by Ball Commentary

India have won convincingly here. Sri Lanka started off well in the run chase and even when Sangakkara and Jayawardene were batting in the initial few overs, it seemed as though their team was still in the hunt. However, there was an unexpected interruption, and what followed was a fairly dull affair. Both the batsmen struggled to force the pace after the break, struggled against Ojha and Sehwag - Sri Lanka failed to score a boundary in 21 overs - and there was an air of inevitability surrounding their eventual downfall. Irfan Pathan had a satisfactory comeback, taking three wickets, albeit proving a little costly. Kulasekara provided some mild entertainment towards the end, but Sri Lanka never looked like they were going to win during their sudden change of gears in the middle passage.

Their only highlight of the day was Murali's record, but the fact that it has taken him four matches to take the three wickets he needed at the start of the series to overtake Wasim Akram is an indication of how well India's batsmen have handled him. India have now won nine consecutive games - their best winning streak in ODIs - and Sri Lanka have one more match to salvage something out of what's been a distressing series.

Murali is being felicitated at the presentation ceremony for his record. Well, not really, but there are some fireworks in the background.

Mahela: "330 was always going to be a tough target, and we failed to strike the right balance in the middle overs. Unfortunately we didn;t get to bowl under lights, and our spinners would have had some purchase then, but India's spinners bowled really well."

Dhoni: "I'm happy about the ninth win, and we are enjoying our success. I haven't batted at 3 in a long time, and was looking to do that today as the series had already been decided."

Gautam Gambhir is the Man of the Match.

Gambhir: "This was the perfect platform for me to perform well and play a long innings. There was an element of pressure, but there always is when you are playing for India. Credit to my captain and coach, they've supported me very well throughout my success in 2008 and hopefully 2009 will yield similar results."

Well, thats it from all of us at Cricinfo. Do join us for the live coverage of the fifth ODI on the 8th. Thanks for all your feedback and we'll see you in a couple of days. Until then, it's adios from Siddhartha Talya on the commentary and Sanjay Murari from the scoring desk.

Shamil: "The only hope for SL is for some honesty at the press conference. If Mahela says something like the following I'll be cheered up "We were rubbish. I thought it was just problems with the batting, but now even the bowling is not that good. To be the first captain to face a 5-0 whitewash, that too at home will be the lowest point in my career. We have talent but we're just rubbish at applying it. Let's hope this is rock bottom and the only way is up." "

Praveen Kumar into the attack now