Virat Kohli maiden ODI century (107 runs of 114 balls) and Gautam Gambhir seventh ODI century (150* runs of 137 balls) helped India to comprehensively chase down 316 runs with ease and seal the series here at EdenGarden. Indiawere reduced to 23/2 in chase of 316 runs in the fourth over but youngster Virat Kohli grabbed the opportunity with both hands along with Gautam Gambhir and scripted a historic win by 7 wickets.
It was one of the most comprehensive successful run chase by the Indians in their ODI history with such an ease. The duo put on record 224 runs of just 214 balls for the third wicket to inject a fresh life into the chase after reduced to 23/2. In the end India reach the target with 11 balls to spare. With this win now India will go into Delhi with Karbon Mobile Cup already in their bag.
Mind you India chased down this mammoth total without two of their star players (M.S.Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh). When both Gambhir and Kohli joined together India was in deep trouble with two of their most experienced players already back in the pavilion and two already not in the team.
Right from the start Kohli was looking for boundaries and that helped Gambhir at other end to calm down. Both batsmen played cleverly and whenever they got the lose ball they have converted it into boundary ball and on good deliveries they have kept rotating the strikes which kept required run rate in check.
Both batsmen reached their centuries in consecutive deliveries. However in trying to finish of the game Virat Kohli holed out to long-on, but Gambhir made sure there were no further mishaps, scoring 47 off the 70 remaining runs. Dinesh Karthik played his part with unbeaten 19 runs of 22 balls.
Earlier Sri Lankan captain won the toss and elected to bat first. Riding on the well made century from the opener Upul Tharanga (118 runs of 128 balls) Sri Lanka posted a mammoth total of 315/6 on the board. Kumar Sangakara (60 runs of 72 balls) was another player who have done bulk of the scoring for his team. Other players also chipped in with cameos that helped Sri LankaEdenGarden, Kolkata. in the end to post a highest total at
Gautam Gambhir was declared Player of the Match for his superb unbeaten 150 runs of just 137 balls however he showed an excellent gesture by handing over his Man of the Match award to Virat Kohli for his maiden ton.
