Hospice. After a brilliant performance by the bowlers, Shreyas Iyer (73 not out) scored a third consecutive half-century to register a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka with 19 balls in the third and final T20 International here on Sunday. A clean sweep of the three-match series 3-0. Despite captain Dasun Shanaka’s unbeaten 74 off 38 balls, the Sri Lankan team, after winning the toss, could only manage 146 runs for five wickets.
‘Man of the Match’ and ‘Man of the Series’ Iyer hit a 45-ball nine fours and a six as his third consecutive unbeaten half-century in the series led India to victory in 16.5 overs. Iyer scored a total of 204 runs in three matches and was not dismissed even once. Ravindra Jadeja remained unbeaten on 22 as India posted 148 for four.
This is India’s 12th consecutive win in T20 Internationals. This was captain Rohit Sharma’s 125th T20 match for the Indian jersey, making him the player to play the most T20 Internationals in world cricket. With him Sanju Samson (18) came out to open the innings. But Rohit (05) could only hit a boundary after playing only nine balls that the extra bounce ball of Dushmanta Chamira got him out.
India beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the 3rd T20I in Dharamsala; clinch the three-match series by 3-0.
— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2022
Interestingly, Chamira got Rohit out for the sixth time in T20 Internationals. Iyer was now at the crease, who opened his hand with a four off Binura Fernando in his fifth ball. Then Lahiru Kumara started collecting runs in the next over by scoring three fours.
In the powerplay, the team scored 47 runs for the loss of one wicket. Samson sent the first ball of the seventh over for a four but was caught by wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal off Chamika Karunaratne. Now Deepak Hooda came to support Iyer, who contributed 21 runs with a four and a six but was bowled in the 11th over by Lahiru Kumara. Iyer hit a hat-trick of unbeaten half-centuries in the series with a lofty six over midwicket off Jeffrey Vandersay in the 12th over. Venkatesh Iyer (05), who came to bat at number five, became the second victim of Lahiru Kumara. Jadeja and Iyer then shared an unbeaten 45-run partnership for the fifth wicket to give the team an easy victory.
It was great to see the way Rohit’s ‘reserve bench’ performed. Avesh Khan made up for his forgettable debut with a brilliant opening spell with Mohd Siraj. Even the two wrist spinners Ravi Bishnoi (1 for 32) and Kuldeep Yadav (25 runs in four overs) bowled well. Surprisingly, for two years, Bishnoi has been throwing only googlies but they are so accurate that the batsmen in the Indian Premier League and now in international cricket have no idea about them.
Captain Shanaka played an unbeaten innings with nine fours and two sixes to save the team as he took Sri Lanka close to 150 runs. But Avesh (2/23 from a maiden in four overs) and Siraj (22 runs in four overs) destroyed Sri Lanka’s top order with their quickness and bounce, leaving the team at 11 for three by the fourth over. . It was difficult to come back from it.
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Siraj first dismissed Dhanushka Gunatilak (nil) off a short ball which the batsman tried to pull. Avesh, who gave 40 runs on his debut at the Eden Gardens, bowled full length and sent Pathum Nisanka (01) and Charith Asalanka (04) to the pavilion. The special feature of the performance of the Indian bowlers was that vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar and first-choice wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal were given breaks in this match.
The captain has a lot of options as he and coach Rahul Dravid are slowly building up a set-up that has multiple options for each position in both the departments. However, the T20 team lacked a good off-spinner. Otherwise the team looks good. Also Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Lokesh Rahul are not playing in this series.
Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Chahar and now Ishan Kishan are injured while Shardul Thakur has been rested. Yet a Test specialist like Siraj and Avesh or Harshal Patel (1 for 29) is trying to prove himself for selection eight months before the T20 World Cup. (agency)