As curtains come down today (September 6) on India's tour of Sri Lanka, Virat Kohli's men have a chance to create history in Colombo by pocketing another success.
It has been a complete domination by India over the hosts. The Test series was captured with a 3-0 demolition act and the One Day International rubber was secured with another clean sweep – 5-0.
Now, the tour ends at R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday with the lone Twenty20 International.
India have an opportunity to emulate Australia by winning all matches in the tour across the three formats.
According to noted statistician Rajneesh Gupta, Australia are the only team to have achieved this rare feat of 9-0, being the biggest margin of clean sweeps in a bilateral tour. They won 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and 1 T20I against Pakistan at home in the year 2010.
Kohli, who has made it a habit of setting records in batting and also as a captain, will be aiming to help India match Australia's record.
Recently, the Indian captain hit his 30th ODI ton to draw level with Australian great Ricky Ponting. The Delhi right-hander is now behind batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who holds the record with 49 hundreds.
9-0 is the biggest margin for a clean sweep in all 3 formats in a series/tour (Aus v Pak in 2010).
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) September 5, 2017
India can also do this tomorrow.#SLvIND
With an average of over 50 in T20Is, Kohli will again be in the spotlight when India bats. He has so far accumulated 1,748 runs in 49 T20Is. His highest score is 90 not out. A ton will be a special way to sign off.
On current form, India should defeat Sri Lanka in the T20I contest. However, given the nature of the shortest form of the game, anything can happen. There is also a possibility of rain and it could spoil India's plans.
For India, it has already been a record-setting visit to the island nation and one more success tonight will make it even more memorable.
If India win the T20I, it will be a world record for captain Kohli. When Australia won 9-0 against Pakistan in 2010, they had different skippers across the format. Ponting led in Tests, ODIs and Michael Clarke was in-charge of T20I side.
