India complete series whitewash

Mumbai : It was far from a dominating batting display after young bowlers’ inspiring show but India managed to inflict a 3-0 series whitewash on Sri Lanka with a tense five-wicket win in the third Twenty20, yesterday.

Sri Lankan hopes to end the miserable tour on a high were raised when India struggled in a 136-run chase but eventually the hosts crossed the finish line with four balls to spare.

Sri Lanka will go home with just one ODI win from this tour while India would head to South Africa with convincing victories in all three formats.

Supremely confident Indian bowlers came out firing with Jaydev Unadkat being outstanding yesterday even as the Lankans appeared to be in dilemma as if to attack or stay patient.

In a hurry to collect runs, they ended up playing poor lofted shots on good balls, resulting in tame dismissals and put on board a modest 135 for seven.

India lost in-form openers -- captain Rohit Sharma (27) and KL Rahul (4) -- early, which affected their run-rate badly as Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey found the going tough against a fired-up Lankan attack.

No boundary was scored for more than six overs at one stage during India’s chase with scoreboard moving at snail’s pace with runs mostly coming in singles.

Iyer broke the shackles with a long-off six off Dasun Shanaka but was soon run out in an unfortunate manner after scoring 30 off 32 balls.

Hardik Pandya (4) came ahead of MS Dhoni this time but did not last long and was caught behind off Shanaka, whom Pandey had smashed for two consecutive fours in the same over. 

Paceman Dushmantha Chameera cleaned up Pandey (32 off 29 balls) with a faster but straight delivery, bringing Dhoni at the crease with India requiring 28 from 23 balls.

Boundaries were still hard to come but Dinesh Karthik (18 not out) tilted the match in India’s favour by hitting a massive six off Nuwan Pradeep’s full toss in the last ball of the 19th over.