(Cricket news) India defeated Sri Lanka by 6 wickets with 19 balls to spare to complete a 3rd consecutive T20I series whitewash. In the process India also equalled Afghanistan's record of 12 consecutive T20I wins. They will have to wait another 3 months for their next T20 match against South Africa where they can try and break the record.
In the final T20I, India made 4 changes as Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishan Kishan were replaced by Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj and Avesh Khan. India went into the game with one less batter as Harshal Patel played at number 7 and Ravindra Jadeja was used as a pure batter. Sri Lanka won the toss and surprisingly elected to bat first on a tough track.
Sri Lanka could only manage 146 runs in the 20 overs with Dasun Shanaka scoring an unbeaten 74 off 38 balls. No other Lankan batter looked comfortable at the crease but the skipper played an important knock to get a respectable total after Sri Lanka were 60 for 5 after 12 overs. India's death bowling just like the last game was questionable as they conceded 86 runs of the last 8 overs.
In the run chase Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten 73 off 45 balls guided India to a comfortable win. Iyer kept going with the flow despite wickets falling at the other end. Dushmantha Chameera dismissed Rohit Sharma for the 6th time in T20 internationals while Chamika Karunaratne got rid of Sanju Samson. Lahiru Kumara got the wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Deepak Hooda but it all went in vain as India got over the line with 19 balls to spare. Skipper Rohit Sharma will have a very welcome headache in terms of team selection in the future.
The action will now happen in Mohali where Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian Test team for the first time ever as India take on Sri Lanka in a 2 match Test series with the World Test Championship in mind. A lot of positives to take for India from the series win and perhaps the only negatives are death bowling and fielding.
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