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| Virat Kohli was "in the zone" during his 133 not out off 86 balls |
Turnarounds don't come any better. Fortunes don't change more
dramatically. And emotions don't bear a starker contrast. At the halfway
stage, Sri Lanka would have felt they had one foot in the final, having
left the India bowlers deflated after a dominating performance with the
bat. And they would have been right to think that way, the Indian
batting having shown little promise in the series and the team on the
brink of elimination.
But Virat Kohli put on an imperious display of strokemaking, his
malleable wrists powering an Indian fightback conspicuous in its absence
on what had been, until now, two forgettable overseas trips. Kohli's
innings made a mockery of an imposing score, kept India's finals hopes
alive and left Sri Lanka with the unenviable task of beating the form
team in the tournament to knock India out.
Given India's poor outings with the bat in their recent games, one would
have expected them to struggle to chase a target of 321 in 50 overs.
They achieved it in 36.4 - needing to chase it in 40 to stay alive in
the series - and did so with Kohli finishing things off in a blaze of
glory. Kohli was, as Nathan Astle said after his whirlwind 222 against
England in 2002, "in the zone". He dismissed anything that came his way
with clinical precision, found the boundary at will whether the field
was in or pushed back, ran swiftly between the wickets to catch the
fielders off guard and middled the ball with scarcely believable
consistency.
While Kohli was the protagonist in India's successful chase, the other
characters played their due part. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar
would have wanted to do more but gave India the explosive start they
desperately needed to stage a counterattack; Gautam Gambhir continued to
be fluent, just four boundaries in a knock of 63 in 64 balls showing
the toil behind the runs and Suresh Raina, under pressure to perform,
gave Kohli valuable company in a match-winning stand with a spunky
cameo.
If the Indians were insipid with their bowling, the Sri Lankans were far
worse as wides flowed, gift balls were doled out on the pads with
regularity and the fielding buckled under the pressure of an unexpected
fightback. Both innings were replete with fumbles, misfields, wayward
throws - one of them, had it been on target, could have got Kohli
run-out - making batting even more profitable on the easiest track in
the series thus far. The brisk start to the chase and the subsequent
consolidation by Gambhir and Kohli meant India were in with a fighting
chance with two Powerplays still remaining, and both proved highly
lucrative.
Kohli made both his own, first targeting Nuwan Kulasekara in the 31st
over - which began with India needing 91 in 10 overs for a bonus point -
carting three consecutive fours as attempted yorkers failed to meet
their desired lengths and served as tempting length balls. Two were
whipped - in trademark Kohli fashion, a momentary turn of the wrists
imparting tremendous force on the ball - and the other, sliced over
point in an act of improvisation.
The Sri Lankan seamers misfired badly but even when they got it right,
like an accurate yorker from Malinga, Kohli was able to shuffle across
and expertly work it past the short fine fielder. He took 24 from
Malinga in the 35th over, flicking him for six and picking four fours
past short fine, and finished the game with two thunderous drives
through the off side, the second being the clinching blow. A pump of the
fists was followed by a roar of elation and relief as a perennially
inanimate MS Dhoni calmly trudged on to the field to join in the
celebrations.
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