India Vs Sri Lanka: Key takeaways from 4th ODI; Kohli, Rohit, Dhoni smash several records

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Colombo, Sep 1: Virat Kohli's yet another power-packed ton complemented by Rohit Sharma's sublime century took India to another win over Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI. Defending a colossal total of 375, the Men In Blue crushed Sri Lanka by 168 runs and went 4-0 up in the series.

India's 375/5 was the highest posted by any visiting team in an ODI in Sri Lanka, bettering their own record of 363 for 5 at the same ground in 2009. The 168-run defeat is hosts' worst defeat in terms of run margin.

A clinical effort from a relatively young bowling attack, India bundled Sri Lanka for 207 in 43rd over and added to the hosts' miseries. Senior batsman Angelo Mathews top scored for the hosts but his lone effort wasn't enough to save Sri Lanka's sinking ship.

Here are 6 key takeaways from the 4th ODI between India and Sri Lanka:

1. Virat Kohli third on the list of most ODI tons slammed

Virat Kohli slammed his career's 29th ODI century to place himself behind Ricky Ponting (30) and Sachin Tendulkar (49), in terms of most tons. Kohli scored a 96-ball 131 after notching up the ton in just 76 deliveries.

The right-handed batsman looked in sublime form from the moment he walked into the middle after an early dismissal of opener Shikhar Dhawan.

This was Kohli's 7 ODI century against Sri Lanka, and he's now only behind Sachin Tendulkar, who has slammed 8 tons against Australia which most by a batsman against any side. Kohli also completed 2000 ODI runs against Sri Lanka.

2. Rohit Sharma slams second consecutive ton

Continuing from where he left, the Indian opener slammed yet a back-to-back hundred in the series and notch up his 13th three-figure score in the 50-over format. An in-form Rohit Sharma scored 104 off 88 balls before getting out. This is the third time that the right-handed batsman has scored centuries in successive ODIs.

3. Kohli-Sharma's record partnership

En route their 219-run partnership for the second wicket, the Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma duo broke a number of records. Their partnership improved on the previous highest 2nd wicket stand on Sri Lankan soil -- 197 runs added by Dhawan and Kohli in the first ODI of this current series in Dambulla.

It was also India's third-highest 2nd wicket partnership against Sri Lanka in ODIs, after 318 at Taunton in May 1999, and 236 at Nagpur in March 1999 -- both set by Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. This was also their third 200-plus stand as a pair equalling the record held jointly by Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly, as well as Gautam Gambhir and Kohli.

4. Milestone man MS Dhoni creates a few records

MS Dhoni became only the sixth cricketer in the history of Indian cricket to make an appearance in his 300th ODI. The veteran wicketkeeper batsman remained undefeated one short of a half-century score. Incidentally, Dhoni got a single off the penultimate delivery of the 50th over as he remained stranded on 49 not out -- one short of what could have been his 100th international half-century.

Dhoni remained unbeaten for the record 73rd time in his career and this is the most by any player in ODI history.

Later in the day, Dhoni took three catches behind the stumps and proved the umpires' decisions wrong by getting converted not out decisions into out via DRS. It was Dhoni's suggestion to the skipper Kohli to go for the DRS as India got their reviews right on both the occasions.

5. Manish Pandey hits a fifty on his come back

Middle-order batsman Manish Pandey made an impressive half-century on his return to the Indian side.

The young Karnataka batsman, who has been in and out from the side due to various reasons, reached his half-century off 42 deliveries and stitched an unbroken partnership for the sixth wicket which yielded 101 runs in only 12.2 overs. Pandey was playing an ODI after a gap of almost 10 months.

6. Lasith Malinga enters 300 ODI wickets club

Veteran Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga picked up his 300th ODI wicket in the 4th ODI against India. The slinger would always cherish his 300th victim as it was no ordinary batsman either.

One of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket, Virat Kohli became his 300th prey after the batsman tried to clear him over the covers.

However, that was the only success Malinga got in the match as he struggled to get any more wickets and returned with figures of 1/82 from his 10 overs. These figures clearly reflect that the right-arm pacer has seen a major dip in his form.