India Sri Lanka Mumbai T20I
India beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in Mumbai to clean sweep the visitors 3-0.

India saw off a brilliant bowling performance from Sri Lanka to beat the visitors by 5 wickets and seal the three-match series 3-0.

After the thrashing they received in the last game, Sri Lanka bowlers came up with a much -improved show but the modest runs on the scoreboard was just not enough for them to propel their team to a win. Chasing a modest 136, the hosts suffered a big setback early on when their in-form opener KL Rahul was dismissed for just 4. A little while later, Rohit Sharma also returned to the hut after scoring quickfire 27.

A 42-run stand between Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey steadied the ship but the duo could not help the hosts keep the required-rate under control. By the time the 10th over ended, the scoreboard was reading only 56. Sri Lanka then made the match further interesting by dismissing Shreyas Iyer who scored 30 off 32. India’s decision to promote Hardik Pandya in order to get some quick runs then backfired as the allrounder departed after scoring just 4. 9 runs after Pandya’s departure, Dushmantha Chameera further bolstered his chances by castling a well-settled Pandey for 32.

The equation was down to 28 off the last 23 balls when the in-form MS Dhoni joined Dinesh Karthik in the middle. Sri Lanka kept on bowling with lot of discipline, making it tough for Karthik and Dhoni to free their arms. But the equation completely changed when Nuwan Pradeep bowled a full-toss on the last ball of the 19th over which was hit for a six by Karthik.  The shot brought down the equation to 3 off the final over before Dhoni hit a four to take the hosts home with 4 balls remaining.

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Earlier, the visitors came up with a poor batting performance once again as they were restricted to 135 for seven in the allotted 20 overs. With wickets falling on regular intervals, Sri Lanka’s inning never got the impetus which made it tough for them to post a challenging total for the high-flying hosts. Batting first in the series for the first time, Thisara Perera & Co. were off to a start as their top three- Niroshan Dickwella, Upul Tharanga and Kusal Perera- were back in the hut with only 18 runs on the board.

A 38-run stand between Sadeera Samarawickrama and Asela Gunaratne stopped the rot for a while before the former’s dismissal completely derailed Sri Lanka’s innings. Gunaratne top-scored for his side, scoring 36 while Dasun Shanaka also played a handy knock of 29 as Sri Lanka huffed and puffed to a modest total.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:

https://twitter.com/CricFreakRD/status/944953159142608896?

 

https://twitter.com/MS7shubham/status/944925140453699584

https://twitter.com/GappistanRadio/status/944927527121948672

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https://twitter.com/Fancricket12/status/944929541230706688

 

https://twitter.com/msdhoni7_fan/status/944980759068266496

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https://twitter.com/imsharatbhatt/status/944980346352713728

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