India were expected to whitewash Sri Lanka by winning the third T20I and they exactly did that. However, it wasn't an easy victory for them as they were stretched to the limit by the Sri Lankan bowlers during a modest chase of 136. As India had already won the series, they gave a chance to Washington Sundar and Mohammed Siraj to showcase their skills. While the former bowled exceedingly well, the same couldn't be said about Siraj, who was expensive in his second T20 outing as well.
Debutant Washington Sundar opened the bowling for India and the off-spinner picked up the important wicket of Kusal Perera in his second over. This was after Jaydev Unadkat had removed Niroshan Dickwella in the previous over. The wickets kept tumbling for Sri Lanka and next to go was Upul Tharanga, who was caught at deep mid-wicket on the bowling of Unadkat. The left-arm seamer has been impressive throughout the series and today was no different.
The pair of Asela Gunaratne and Sadeera Samarawickrama looked good for a while as they stitched a 38-run partnership. Sri Lanka needed them to bat for a bit longer, but that didn’t happen as Samarawickrama was dismissed by Hardik Pandya for 21.
Except for Gunaratne, all the other batsmen struggled to score the runs and whenever they tried to play the big shots, they only managed to hit it straight to the fielders. Both Gunathilaka and Thisara Perera fell in a similar manner and at the end of 13 overs, they were reeling at 85 for 6.
The last recognized batting pair of Gunaratne and Shanaka had a big responsibility on their shoulders to guide their team to a respectable total. They batted for 4.3 overs, but managed to score only 26 runs, before Gunaratne (36) was sent back to the pavilion by Hardik Pandya. It was a nice running catch taken by Kuldeep Yadav at mid-wicket, which helped Pandya to pick up his second wicket.
At the end of 19 overs, Sri Lanka’s score read 117 for 7 and it appeared as if they will get somewhere around 125 at the end of their 20 overs. However, a big last over from Mohammed Siraj ensured that the visitors finish with a bang. The medium-pacer conceded 18 runs in the last over – 45 in his four – which helped the Sri Lankans to reach 135.
Now, the target of 136 was not big at all, considering the excellent batting conditions at Wankhede. In fact, 135 was the lowest total by a team batting first at this venue. To defend it, the Sri Lankan bowlers needed to be at the top of their game. They started off brilliantly and created a couple of opportunities to get the Indian openers out. Dushmanth Chameera was finally rewarded for his nagging line and lengths as he caught KL Rahul plumb in front for 4. Even a review couldn’t save the batsman as ball-tracking showed the ball clipping the leg-stump.
The dismissal of Rahul didn’t slow down Rohit Sharma, who continued to be aggressive and played a couple of superb shots on the bowling of Nuwan Pradeep. However, he too couldn’t last long and was out in the very next over.
The wicket of the Indian captain helped Sri Lanka to tighten the screws as the young pair of Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey found it difficult to get going. In six overs since Rohit’s dismissal, there was not a single boundary hit by either of the two batsmen. However, the positive thing from India’s point of view that they were able to keep the scoreboard ticking by taking the ones and twos.
In order to get a breakthrough, Thisara Perera brought Akila Dananjaya back into the attack. Well, the off-spinner didn’t pick up a wicket, but he did manage to provide his team with a breakthrough by getting Iyer run-out. Hardik Pandya, who was sent up the order, couldn’t do much damage and was dismissed by Dasun Shanaka in the next over for just 4.
With the last 5 overs remaining, India needed 37 runs to win the match. Manish Pandey held the key for them. He had found his timing back and was now scoring at more than a run-a-ball. But at the start of the 17th over, he too was dismissed by Chameera. Now, there were two new batsmen out there in the centre and Sri Lanka were in with a realistic chance of pulling off an upset.
Chameera could have even got MSD out twice in the very same over, but both the times the batsman was lucky. First, the edge went past the flying Dickwella and on the second occasion, hawkeye showed that the ball would go over the stumps. It was just the kind of luck Dhoni and India needed at that stage.
India now required only 20 runs from three overs. But Sri Lanka were not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Perera bowled a really good over, as he gave away just 5 runs and Pradeep followed it up with five good balls in the next. But his last ball was a rank-high full toss, which Dinesh Karthik smashed for a six to change the equation of the match. Only three were required from the last over and it took MSD just two balls, as he finished off the match in style with a boundary.
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