Visakhapatnam: India clinched the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka 2-1 with a comfortable nine-wicket victory in the third and decisive match at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA cricket stadium here on Sunday.
The win was fashioned by off-spinner R. Ashwin, who came up his career best spell of 4/8.
The home side had it easy — they first bundled out the visitors to a paltry 82 in 18 overs and then overhauled the simple target with 37 balls to spare to lay their hands on their second straight Twenty20 trophy, something will stand them in good stead going into the ICC Twenty20 World Cup to be played in India next month.
Electing to bowl after winning the toss, Dhoni opened the attack with Ashwin. The offie repaid the faith his skipper showed in him by bowling a tight line that had the Lankan batsmen at their wits end.
Ashwin snared four wickets in his three-over spell to torture the top order and leave the Lankans tottering at 20 for 4 in the fifth over.
The visitors could not get out of the rut and eventually folded for 82, their lowest total in T20s. Ashwin dismissed the Lankan openers in the very first over.
Niroshan Dickwella (1) tried to charge down the track, was completely beaten and stumped by Dhoni. The experienced Tillekeratne Dilshan too departed for the same individual score as his partner as he was trapped leg before wicket.
Ashwin inflicted a deeper cut on the visitors’ batting order in his second over when he had captain Dinesh Chandimal (8) caught by Hardik Pandya with the team total reading just 12.
Scorecard:
Sri Lanka: N. Dickwella st Dhoni b Ashwin 1, T. Dilshan lbw b Ashwin 1, D. Chandimal c Pandya b Ashwin 8, D. Gunaratne c Raina b Ashwin 4, T. Siriwardana b Nehra 4, D. Shanaka b Jadeja 19, S. Prasanna (run out) 9, T. Perera c Jadeja b Raina 12, S. Senanayake c Dhoni b Raina 8, D. Chameera (not out) 9, D. Fernando b Bumrah 1. Extras (lb-2, w-3, nb-1) 6. Total (in 18 overs) 82.
FoW: 1-2, 2-3, 3-12, 4-20, 5-21, 6-48, 7-54, 8-72, 9-73.
Bowling: Ashwin 4-1-8-4, Nehra 2-0-17-1, Bumrah 3-0-10-1, Jadeja 4-1-11-1, Yuvraj 1-0-15-0, Pandya 2-0-13-0, Raina 2-0-6-2.
India: R.G. Sharma lbw b Chameera 13, S. Dhawan (not out) 46, A.M. Rahane (not out) 22. Extras (lb-3) 3. Total (for one wicket in 13.5 overs) 84.
FoW: 1-29.
Bowling: S.M.S.M. Senanayake 4-0-22-0, C.R.D. Fernando 2-0-7-0, P.V.D. Chameera 2-0-14-1, S. Prasanna 1-0-3-0, T.A.M. Siriwardana 1-0-9-0, D.A.S. Gunaratne 2.5-0-22-0, T.M. Dilshan 1-0-4-0.
