Daijiworld Media Network

Kolkata, Nov 13 : Hello and a warm welcome to game four of this 5-match ODI series. India have already sealed their 8th bilateral series win at home against Sri Lanka with comprehensive wins in the first three matches. However, captain Virat Kohli has made it clear that his side is not looking at the margin of victory in the series. Instead, he wants his side to take every game as a knockout game so as to get into the frame of mind to prepare for the all important World Cup.

Pitch Report: 'I think we are in for a good game of cricket. There is a decent covering of grass, there are a few cracks but they aren't moving. This pitch will be good for the batsmen. If they bat well, we are in for a run feast again,' reckon Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Holding.

India have won the toss and have opted to bat

Mathews: 'I wasn't really sure about what to do. Whatever you do, you got to do really well. Ajantha, Dinesh, Lahiru and Eranga are playing. We've got to restrict them to a minimal score and try and chase it down.'

Kohli: 'We are going to have a bat first. Looks like a good surface, the ball might do a bit under lights. Rohit, Karn and Binny are coming in for Dhawan, Ashwin and Ishant. We've got to encouter different situations. Everyone is in good mental space. It's a special ground for me personally, I scored my first international hundred here.'

Teams:

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kushal Janith Perera, Dinesh Chandimal(w), Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews(c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga, Ajantha Mendis
India (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa(w), Ambati Rayudu, Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Stuart Binny, Akshar Patel, Karn Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni

Robin Uthappa also makes it to the team, he replaces Wriddhiman Saha. Karn Sharma is making his ODI debut today.
Both captains are cutting a cake to mark the celebrations of 150 years of the ground.

Both sides have been revamped for the remainder of the series. Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Karn Sharma, Kedar Jadhav and Vinay Kumar have replaced Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma and Murali Vijay. Sri Lanka too have made quite a few changes. Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Suraj Randiv and Dhammika Prasad make way for Lahiru Thirmanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Ajantha Mendis and Shaminda Eranga. For India, it is likely that Rohit and Uthappa will take the field today. It would be interesting to see the playing XIs of both the sides. More about the
Sri Lanka on the other hand have been playing some below-par cricket in the series. Skipper Angelo Mathews has said that it is embarrassing to see the way his side is performing against a quality outfit like India. Tillakaratne Dilshan, though he got a fifty in the previous game, isn't looking in the best of touches. Mahela Jayawardene is the only batsman in the current squad, who's been flowing freely. The bowling has looked out of sorts and with the England series, in Sri Lanka, just a few days away they would like to end the series on a high and take some momentum back home with them.

Match Preview:

Having already clinched the series in a comfortable fashion, the Virat Kohli-led Indian team will be looking to take a 4-0 lead when they take on the low-on-confidence Sri Lankan team in the penultimate match of the series at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The tourists, who have been way below-par in this series, will be looking to come up with a better showing in hopes of salvaging one or two consolation victories.

India

Despite some of the key players being rested, the Indian team under Kohli has done a terrific job in keeping the Lankan team under the mat throughout the series. The Indian top-order has been in superb form, especially Shikhar Dhawan, who has registered scores of 113, 79 and 91. Ajinkya Rahane also hit a fine ton in the first game while Suresh Raina helped himself to a half-century in the same match. It was Ambati Rayudu's turn to hog the limelight in the second match as he scored his maiden ODI century. In the third game, Kohli registered his first fifty of the series while surpassing Viv Richards as the fastest to 6000 ODI runs. With the Sri Lankan attack unable to make any impact, the Indian batsmen are unlikely to have any problems in the remaining games as well, unless the tourists do something special.

The bowlers have complemented the Indian batsmen well by coming up with disciplined performances in all the games. Ishant Sharma's four-wicket haul was instrumental in bowling out Sri Lanka cheaply in the first match. Axar Patel has made good use of the opportunity provided to him by doing well in all the games, while R Ashwin too has kept things tight at his end. Umesh Yadav, who has shown a lot of control to go with his pace, picked up a four-wicket haul in the third match and is the top wicket-taker in the series so far, followed by Axar. It has been a fine all-round performance by India so far and the hosts will be looking to continue in the same vein and consolidate their No. 1 position in the ICC rankings.

Sri Lanka

Inconsistency has been Sri Lanka's main bane in the series with the seniors feeling most of the pressure as the youngsters have not been able to do much. Tillakaratne Dilshan got off to promising starts in all the games, but he could only muster one fifty plus score, which came in the previous game. None of the Lankan batters came to the party in the first match while Angelo Mathews and Kumar Sangakkara did well in the second game, but it was not enough as the rest of the batsmen failed. In the third game, Sri Lanka would have been bowled out for a total much less than what they eventually reached (242), and it was only possible because Mahela Jayawardene hit a fighting ton. Sri Lankan batsmen have not been able to fire collectively and this has given coach Marvan Atapattu and skipper Mathews lots of headaches.

Be it quick bowlers or spinners, none of them have been able to contain the Indian batsmen. Lahiru Gamage, Dhammika Prasad, Thisara Perera, Mathews and Nuwan Kulasekara were the different seam options used by Sri Lanka in the earlier games, but not one of them has made an impact. The spinners have not done much either with Suraj Randiv and Seekkuge Prasanna going for a lot of runs. Sri Lanka have brought in some fresh legs for the final two matches, but how much will it aid them in reversing the fortunes of the side, remains to be seen.