There's something about the Sri Lankan bowling that Gautam Gambhir doesn't like. What else would explain the utter disdain with which he despatches their bowlers to all parts of the ground.
It would be easy to say Gambhir plays the Sri Lankan bowlers well. But so do the other Indian batsmen -- and that explains India's three successive series wins over the islanders in the last 15 months or so.
But among all Indian batsmen, it is Gambhir's recent record (against Sri Lanka) that stands out.
Thursday was no different. Having seen his side reduced to 23 for two, chasing a big score (316), Gambhir scored an unbeaten 150 to ensure India won the fourth ODI and seal the series.
"First of all, I am very happy to have finished a game," gushed Gambhir afterwards. "I have played 90 ODIs but had never been able to finish a game before."
The Delhi southpaw's 137-ball knock consisted of 14 hits to the fence and was his seventh ODI hundred, second this year after that wonderful 150 at the Premadasa stadium in February.
While on 140, Gambhir became the 15th Indian batsman to surpass the 3000-run mark in limited-overs' cricket.
And that brings us back to Gambhir's love affair with Sri Lanka.
Out of 3010 ODI runs, nearly a third (913) have come against the islanders and, more importantly, more than half (457) of those this year.
The left-hander also scored four of his seven ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka. And his average against the islanders (50.72) is much higher than his career average (38.10).
Thursday's knock, besides being his highest one-day score, was probably his best too, considering Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh weren't in the team and Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag got out cheaply.
Experts felt, coming close on the heels of being awarded the ICC Test Player of the Year, this ton marked his coming of age as an ODI batsman, a match-winner.
However, Gambhir was quick to downplay his effort.
"This team has enough bench strength. We have enough guys on the bench who can prove themselves even in the absence of great players like MS Dhoni and Yuvraj, and the way Virat (Kohli) batted proves that," he explained.
On being prodded, he progressed from diplomacy to explain his own achievement.
"I have had enough experience in first class cricket. It is just a matter of converting that to the international level," he said.
"The last few games I didn't have a lot of runs under my belt. So once I got going, I tried to get a big knock and finish off the match," he added.
Gambhir has one more opportunity -- in the fifth ODI -- to continue his golden run against Sri Lanka.
