India Clean Sweep Sri Lanka, Win Colombo T20 by 7 Wickets
Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey both scored half centuries.
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What a match to mark India’s 50th win in T20 internationals!
Virat Kohli won the toss, elected to field and his bowlers stepped up to the task, restricting Sri Lanka to 170/7 in their 20 overs. In reply, though the visitors lost Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul early, it was the skipper who stepped up, smashing his 17th T20 fifty for India. Though he fell on 82, Manish Pandey carried India past the finish line. The winning runs also guiding him to his half century.
India won the match by 7 wickets completing a 3-0 whitewash in Tests, 5-0 sweep in ODIs and an easy 1-0 win in the one-off T20. This is the first time that an Indian cricket team registered an all-win record across formats in an overseas tour.
Sri Lanka Were Put Into Bat
Ashan 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 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 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 overs as Munaweera and Thisara Perera (11) added 37 runs off 29 balls.
Munaweera was bowled off Yadav in the 12th over, the bat escaping from his hand as he looked to force a pull and the ball hit the stumps instead. Two overs later, Chahal returned to strike a double blow as he bowled Perera and then trapped Dasun Shanaka (0) LBW in the space of four balls. Sri Lanka were crawling by then and were reduced to 134 for seven in the 17th over as Seekkuge Prasanna (11) was caught in the deep off Yadav. Priyanjan then played a blinder of a knock to help Sri Lanka post a competitive target. He was watchful at first as Sri Lanka didn't want to lose any more wickets and put on 36 runs off 20 balls with Isuru Udana (19 off 10 balls) for the eighth wicket. Towards the end, the duo played some unorthodox shots to push Sri Lanka forward.
India’s Chase
India witnessed a bad start to their chase with Rohit Sharma (9) top-edging one off Lasith Malinga (1/31) in the third over, although he did put on 22 runs for the opening stand with KL Rahul (24).
Kohli and Rahul then added another 20 runs for the second wicket with the latter a higher contributor as the Indian skipper made a sketchy start against the Lankan pacers. Rahul was dismissed against the run of play as Dasun Shanaka held a brilliant diving catch at cover off Seekkuge Prasanna (1/25) in the sixth over.
India were placed at 43 for two at the end of the powerplay, and the 50-run mark came up in the seventh over.
Kohli then overcame his patchy start by running hard between the wickets with Pandey. They put on 50 off just 33 balls as India crossed 100 in the 12th over. The Indian skipper then reached his half-century off 30 balls, which included four boundaries and a six. It was his fourth consecutive half-century in T20Is against Sri Lanka, and in doing so, he became the fastest batsman to score 15000 international runs across formats in 333 innings, improving Hashim Amla's record of 336 innings.
Kohli also crossed Martin Guptill's tally of 1806 runs to become the third-highest scorer in T20Is behind Brendon McCullum (2140) and Tilakratne Dilshan (1889). He put up 100 off just 62 balls with Pandey, and their eventual stand surpassed the highest stand for India whilst chasing in T20Is. They improved the 107-run stand between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rahul against West Indies in Florida in 2016.
Kohli was finally out caught at deep midwicket off Isuru Udana (1/36). Overall, he hit seven fours and a six. India were just 10 runs away from victory at that point.
Dhoni (1 not out) and Pandey completed the formalities without duress with the latter reaching his maiden T20 International fifty off 36 balls, inclusive of four boundaries and a six.
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