133* vs Sri Lanka, Hobart, 2012
Perhaps the great innings ever by an Indian in a chase when the stakes were against the team batting second.
This was a crucial round-robin match for India as they needed to defeat Sri Lanka by a certain margin in order to stay in contention for the finals of the CB series triangular involving Australia in 2012.
The match was played at Hobart and Sri Lanka batted first and put on a stiff score of 320/4 in 50 overs. Tillakaratne Dilshan made 160* with 11 fours and 3 sixes, and Kumar Sangakkara slammed 105 in 87 balls, as the duo added 200 runs for the second wicket.
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India needed to chase down 321 in 40 overs to stay in the race of finals and that's when Virat Kohli took it upon himself to do the job. Sehwag and Tendulkar added 54 runs in 6 overs to set the tone and Gambhir carried on the momentum with a run-a-ball half-century.
But then Virat Kohli exploded on the Sri Lankan bowlers, slamming even the usually majestic Lasith Malinga for 24 runs in the 35th over, hitting him for 4 fours and a six. Malinga bled 96 runs in only 7.4 overs for one wicket.
The then 23-year-old Kohli slammed 133* in just 86 balls with 16 fours and 2 sixes in a display of brilliant stroke-play where he was aggressive without taking the aerial route. Suresh Raina hit 40* in 24 balls to aid Kohli in his objective and India reached 321/3 in just 36.2 overs.
