Sri Lanka vs India, 4th ODI at Colombo, Jul 31 2012 - Ball by Ball Commentary

So, another Kohli century in a chase orchestrates an Indian victory. Dhoni is arguably the best finisher around in ODIs, and Raina has been in rich form as well, making India a formidable opponent. Dhoni's gamble of playing an extra batsman paid off, with Manoj Tiwary, astonishingly, taking four wickets.

Sri Lanka's batsmen didn't take enough singles in the middle period, getting bogged down against India's part-timers, and eventually they ended on a score which was too small to challenge a lengthy Indian batting line-up.

Ridiculous acceleration from Kohli at the end. He was 86 off 103, he finished on 128 off 119.

Now that the final game is a dead rubber, another chance for Rohit, in an inconsequential game? And resting one of the openers for Rahane?

Sid Patel: "Kohli now reads 128*, 38, 1, 106, 183, 66, 108, 133*, 21, 66 that is 850 runs in last 10 innings at an mind blowing average of 106.25."

Manju: "Dada and MSD scored 183 before they were successful captains. Kohli has scored the magic number now we just have to wait for his turn."

Mukunth: "The fastest to reach 4000 ODI runs was Sir Viv - 88 innings.

Kohli is playing his 86th innings now and already has 3845 (as of 41st over). He still can equal Sir Viv if not break the record. However, going by his current form he will atleast be 2nd going past Greenidge who took 96 innings." Here's list of quickest to 4000 ODI runs.

Alan: "I'm a Sri Lankan fan, but this is a good series to lose! By winning this series, SL won't realize their loose ends - No good genuine spinners, No strike bowlers (can not depend on all the medium pacers) & Middle order is Weak!! Coach has lot of work ahead." Main job is for their fielding coach, they put down some shockers today.

Gaurav: "Given that we've won the series, how about some experimentation? I'd say that this merits some radical changes. Here's an unorthodox batting order:

Rahane, Gambhir, Tiwary, Dhoni, Rohit, Raina, Irfan, Umesh, Ashwin, Rahul, Dinda

I'm no fan of Rohit, but if he must play please let it be at 5. His record at that position, and that alone, is phenonemal. 4 is too high for him." I'm all for experimentation in the final game, rest Zaheer and Sehwag at least.

The things our readers notice. Venkat: "Congrats India! Incidentally both innings end with an over that conceded 18 runs."

Peyush: "who has scored the most number of centuries before playing his 100th odi?" He's also the quickest to 13th ODI centuries, in 86 innings. AB de Villiers is next.

Presentation ceremony:

Seemingly a dozen or so minor awards handed out before Virat Kohli is named Man of the Match. "It's been going well for me, just trying to keep it simple, I got set and got out in the last match, I thought about it. It always pleases a sportsperson than when we perform and the team wins. (On Malinga) Luckily, I'm strong on the leg side, he's the sort of bowler if you don't get on top of him, he can change the match. I was very disappointed with the last match as I didn't have the strike-rate to set up a platform for the side."

Mahela Jayawardene: "To control that line-up you need to pick up wicket, that's where we lacked in the last few games, dropping catches doesn't help. The wicket was a touch slow, under lights the ball does a bit, the quicks bowled well, we didn't bat well, 30-40 runs short. When you set a target like that, you set attacking fields, if you get through that initial period, it becomes easy for them. Lot of credit to Nuwan Pradeep, bowled with lot of pace, good control as well."

MS Dhoni: "The part-timers bowled really well, the pace was important and they bowled to their field. What also matters is the variations you have, Manoj was the away going spinner for us, it was a good wicket, but they bowled well for us, we requested Manoj to bowl a lot in the net sessions, if we don't get a perfect allrounder, we are comfortable playing seven batsmen. Kohli has improved a lot, once he gets set, he's someone who doesn't like to throw away his wicket, he's a very improved cricketer, very hungry to get runs. Suresh Raina also, he bats at No. 6 or 7, the time has come for him to bat at 4 or 5. The problem is, you have to see what's best for the side, the kind of finisher he is at 6 or 7. Last one or two years we haven't found anyone who can fit in his shoes. I think batsmen have taken the responsibilty, it was important that whoever got off to a start, they had to score if not a hundred, at least 80-90." A contented Dhoni taking plenty of sense there.

Here's Siddhartha Talya's match report, and there'll be plenty more coming in from Abhishek Purohit, our man in Colombo.

For now, that's it from me Siddarth Ravindran and the rest at Cricinfo. See you at the final ODI for more Rohit v Manoj and "Good old days". Goodnight!

55 runs in the Powerplay has pretty much ended Sri Lanka's chances