After 3 Tests and 5 ODIs, Virat Kohli & company clinch only T-20 match too
Colombo : After a stunning bowling performance by Kuldeep Yadav (4-0-20-2), India rode on some superb batting by captain Virat Kohli (82) and Manish Pandey (51no), to make a clean sweep of all the matches and end their tour of Sri Lanka on a winning note. Such was the dominance of India on this tour, that they won all the 9 matches played against the hosts.
Chasing a decent target of 171, India did not have the greatest of starts. Opener Rohit Sharma could not continue his brilliant ODI form and was out on 9 runs as India lost their first wicket on 22. KL Rahul also departed soon after to leave India at 42 for 2. But skipper Virat found an able partner in Manish as they stiched together a match-winning partnership of 119 runs. India won the match with 7 wickets and 4 balls to spare.
Earlier, Dilshan Munaweera smashed his maiden half-century while debutant Ashan Priyanjan played a useful hand to guide Sri Lanka to a respectable 170 for seven in the lone Twenty20 match against India.
Playing his 10th T20 match, Munaweera scored a quick-fire 53 off 29 balls with the help of five boundaries and as many as four hits over the fence to keep up Sri Lanka’s momentum at the R Premadasa Stadium.
He was ably supported by Priyanjan, who scored a run-a- ball unbeaten 40 during which he hit one boundary and two sixes to take Sri Lanka to the fighting total.
For India, young leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 43 from his four overs, while chinaman Kuldeep Yadav scalped two for 20. Priyanjan played a handy knock to save the hosts from the blushes after losing their way in the middle overs once again.
This was after the match started a 55 minutes delay because of wet outfield following rains. Put into bat, Sri Lanka made a hectic start with Niroshan Dickwella (17) attacking Jasprit Bumrah (1/38) at the start. It forced India skipper Virat Kohli to introduce spin early into the powerplay in the form of Chahal.
Skipper Upul Tharanga (5) played on a Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/36) delivery in the third over. Munaweera then went into an attacking mode as he carted Chahal for two sixes in the next over. Dickwella added 23 runs with both Tharanga and Munaweera, as Sri Lanka reached 50 for two in the sixth over. Munaweera kept up the assault on Indian bowlers and hit 5 fours as well as four sixes.
He reached his fifty off 26 balls, the second quickest for a Sri Lankan batsman in this format against India, after Kumar Sangakkara who took only 21 balls. Using their five-pronged attack, inclusive of three spinners, India rotated the bowlers around.
The turning point perhaps came when Mahendra Singh Dhoni pulled off a trademark quick stumping to dismiss Angelo Mathews (7) off Chahal in the seventh over.
It denied Sri Lanka an aggressive middle-order partnership. Kuldeep Yadav (2/20) and Axar Patel (0/29) then put on the brakes after the powerplay.
Sri Lanka:
Dickwella b Bumrah………………….17
Tharanga b Bhuvneshwar……………5
Munaweera b Kuldeep………………53
Mathews st Dhoni b Chahal…………7
Priyanjan not out……………………..40
Perera b Chahal………………………..11
Shanaka lbw b Chahal………………..0
Prasanna c Kohli b Kuldeep………..11
Udana not out………………………….19
Extras: (B-0, LB-4, W-3, NB-0)…….7
Total: (for 7 wkts in 20 Ov)……..170
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar 4-0-36-1, Bumrah 4-0- 38-1, Chahal 4-0-43-3, Axar 4-0-29-0, Kuldeep 4-0-20-2.
India
Rohit c Perera b Malinga……………..9
Rahul c Shanaka b Prasanna………24
Kohli c Shanaka b Udana…………..82
Pandey n o ……………………………..51
Dhoni n o………………………………….1
Extras: (B-1, nb-1, w-5)…………….7
Total: (3 wkts, 19.2 overs)……..174
Bowling: Mathews 3-0-33-0, Udana 4-0-36-1, Malinga 4-0-31-1, Prasanna 3-0-25-1, Dananjaya 4-0-28-0, Perera 1.2-0-20-0
