India defeated Sri Lanka by 91 runs in the 3rd T20 international played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot on January 07. With this win, India has maintained a clean home series T20I record against Sri Lanka. India can take a lot of positives away from this game after their opponents thumped them in the 2nd T20I in Pune. This win was India’s 19th win in 29 T20Is they have played against Sri Lanka, most by them.
Hardik Pandya won the toss on a good Rajkot track and opted to bat first in the series decider. The Sri Lankan bowlers were torn apart by some sublime hitting by the centurion Suryakumar Yadav. In addition to that, Tripathi, Gill and Axar Patel chipped in with some handy runs to push India’s total 20 to 30 runs above par.
Chasing 229, Sri Lanka also started well with Kusal Mendis middling the ball quite often. The chase went off-track after the dismissal of Mendis. Nissanka followed his opening partner after a couple of deliveries. Sri Lankans would have hoped for another Shanaka masterclass but the target just kept getting away. Eventually, the Lankans were bowled out for 137 in the 17th over.
Arshdeep Singh, who had an off day at the office in Pune, was the pick of the bowler from the Indian camp. He finished with figures of 3 for 20. Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya finished off with 2 wickets a piece. Axar picked up one wicket. Suryakumar Yadav was adjudged the player of the match for his scintillating century. Axar Patel was declared the player of the series.
The cricket caravan now moves to Guwahati where the India vs Sri Lanka ODI series will commence. The first ODI will be played on January 10.