Virat Kohli once again proved his class as one of best batsmen ever to chase down targets in the second innings. The India skipper led from the front, scoring 54-ball 82 to help India beat Sri Lanka in the one-off T20 by seven wickets on Wednesday.
However, it was not only his batting heroics alone, other players like Manish Pandey, Yuzvendra Chahal also shone brightly in Colombo. Pandey scored a quality half-century while Chahal picked three important wickets.
With this win, India have managed to emulate Australia's record of winning all matches in the tour across three formats. Australia beat Pakistan Down Under 9-0 in 2010, and now India have also done the same as the Men in Blue had defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in Test series, 5-0 in the recently concluded ODI format. This T20 win happens to be their ninth win over Sri Lanka in the tour.
Chasing 171 runs to win in 20 overs was always going to be tricky for India, and they were 42 for 2 wickets. However, an amazing partnership between Kohli and Pandey did the job for India. It was the skipper, who began to dominate proceedings, playing some sublime cricket, making the Lankan bowlers look helpless.
Pandey, on the other end, also began to cut loose and India were scoring runs at a brisk rate with Kohli scoring his 50 runs in the 13th over. One also need to applaud the duo for their incredible running between the wickets besides their hits to the fence.
Earlier, in the first innings, the home team got off to a brilliant start. They were dealing in boundaries in the first six overs, scoring at 10 runs per over and lost two wickets in the process.
Sri Lanka played some positive cricket in the first half of the innings, and it was Dilshan Munaweera, who was taking on India pacers and spinners with ease. The right-hander played fearless cricket, with shots all-around the ground. He completed his maiden fifty in just 26 balls. There was an element of confidence in his batting.
With Ashan Priyanjan at the other end not able to score brisk runs, Munaweera had to shoulder major responsibility to score quickly, which led to his dismissal for 53 runs while going for a big shot. Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal should be credited for piling pressure on the Lankan batsmen, especially Priyanjan, who was not able to read the chinaman's varieties.
Sri Lanka did not change their positive approach during the course of the game, and new batsman Thisara Perera attacked from ball one, but only lasted for seven balls. They were soon 113 for six from 14 overs, which was disappointing for the home fans after a good start.
However, some late flourish from Sri Lanka helped them end their innings with a respectable score of 170 runs in a good batting deck, which did not prove to be enough at the end of the night. India chased down that score with four balls to spare.
