Pallekele (Sri Lanka): Rinku Singh and Suryakumar Yadav’s late bowling efforts combined with Washington Sunder’s Super Over show helped India beat Sri Lanka in the third T20I at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium here to sweep the series 3-0 on Tuesday.
Chasing a below-par 138, the hosts had a brilliant start with openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis raising a 58-run partnership for the first wicket. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi broke the opening stand in the ninth over. Kusal Perera joined Mendis in the middle and stitched another big partnership of 52 runs to lay the foundation for a comfortable win. However, Bishnoi once again gave the hosts a jolt by removing Mendis (43) in the 16th over.
At that time, Sri Lanka needed 28 runs off 28 balls. But things took a left turn for the hosts as their batting faltered agonisingly and were reduced to 132/6 in 19 overs. Rinku Singh bagged two wickets including the scalp of Perera (46) in the penultimate over of the innings which was his first of the match.
In the final over, surprisingly Suryakumar came on to defend six runs off six balls. Astonishingly, he did wonders and restricted Sri Lanka to 137/8, the exact total that India posted to tie the match.
The match went into the Super Over in which Washington Sundar dismissed both Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka to restrict Sri Lanka to 2/2 in 0.3 overs.
In reply, Suryakumar hit a boundary of the first ball off Maheesh Theekshana’s Super Over to stay unbeaten in the series.
Earlier, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal started things for the visiting side with the former returning to the side after missing the second game. India had a miserable start to the innings with Theekshana drawing first blood for his side with the scalp of Jaiswal (10) in the second over.
Sanju Samson, who replaced Rishabh Pant in the match, came to bat at No. 3 but his stay did not last long in the middle as he was sent back to the pavilion for a four-ball duck by Chamindu Wickramasinghe in the next over.
Rinku Singh (1) and captain Suryakumar Yadav’s (8) early dismissals inside the Power-play added further misery to India’s batting line-up. India were reeling at 30/4 in 5.4 overs. Mendis removed Shivam Dube (13) in the ninth over to further dent India’s hopes of rebuilding the innings.
However, the 54-run partnership between Gill and Riyan Parag proved vital for the visitors as the duo steered the side to the 100-run mark and gave them respite in the middle overs. Wanindu Hasaranga broke the stand in the 16th over by snatching the wickets of both set batters — Gill (39) and Parag (26) — in his final over of the spell. He finished with the figures of 2-29 in his allotted quota of overs.
In the end, Washington Sundar and Ravi Bishnoi added some crucial runs to the scoreboard before the former lost his wicket in the last over of the innings. He played a knock of 25 runs off 18 balls including two fours and a six while Bishnoi stayed unbeaten for eight runs.
For Sri Lanka, Theekshana bagged three scalps in his four overs to finish with best figures for the home side.
India have rested four players — Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh and Pant — for the match with an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Both teams will now lock horns in the three-match ODI series, starting on August 2 in Colombo.
Brief scores: India 137/9 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 39, Riyan Parag 26; Wanindu Hasaranga 2-29, Maheesh Theekshana 3-28) against Sri Lanka 137/8 in 20 overs (Kusal Mendis 43, Kusal Perera 46; Rinku Singh 2-3, Suryakumar Yadav 2-5).
Super Over
Sri Lanka: 2/2 in 0.3 over
India: 4/0 in 0.1 over
–IANS
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