Gautam Gambhir was walking the talk at the Premadasa Stadium on Thursday afternoon, making a telling impact on the scoreboard every time he strolled down the pitch. Gambhir’s innings of 150 highlighted the problems with the Sri Lankan bowling attack.

The left-handed batsman has been using his patented, premeditated shot with more regularity against the fast bowlers as he’s finding his feet in international cricket. For spinners, he makes a bigger effort — a little jump to get under the ball before hitting through the line. After an extraordinary 2008, he has already shown signs of early form this season, suggesting that 2009 may be no different.

At the end of a match in which Muttiah Muralitharan became the highest wicket-taker in one-day cricket, the only statistic that seemed to matter was India’s nine straight wins in a row. India set Lanka a victory target of 333, and completed a 67-run victory to take a 4-0 lead in the series.

The day belonged to Gambhir, though. The 27-year-old, who instinctively places his tongue over his upper lip while going for big shots, showed sheer contempt for the bowling in the fourth ODI, using his feet to bring up his sixth ODI century.

Gambhir’s early indulgence against Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekara and Farveez Maharoof made up for Sehwag’s quick dismissal. By the time he tried to run Muralitharan to third-man — only to edge it to the ‘keeper — India were well on their way to victory.

Gambhir held centre-stage for 214 of the 227 minutes that the Indian innings lasted. He stitched together a partnership of 188 off 184 balls with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni — who came in at No 3 — and then put on another 103 off just 75 deliveries with Suresh Raina for the fifth wicket.

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