SL VS IND - 3rd T20I, India tour of Sri Lanka, 2024

Curtains down on this 3-match T20I series. Sri Lanka will be gutted. Even without Pathirana bowling a single ball, they managed to restrict a powerful Indian batting line-up to 137. And, their top three batsmen fared pretty well against the Indian tweakers to get to a strong position. Losing can become a habit and unfortunately for them, the cause has remained the same in all three matches. Three dramatic collapses to squander good starts provided by their top-order. Can they recover from this? The ODIs aren't too far away. The action shifts to Colombo and the first of the three ODIs will commence on Friday. It could be a tougher challenge for the Islanders as the likes of Rohit and Kohli will be in action for the visitors. For now, it's goodbye from all of us down here.....

Suryakumar collects the trophy and hands it over to Parag and Rinku. It's a happy Indian team as they pose with the CHAMPIONS hoarding. India 3 - Sri Lanka 0!

Stats by Shashikant Singh

Most wickets by Indian spinners in a T20I
10 vs WI, Lauderhill, 2022
8 vs BAN, Hangzhou, 2023
8 vs SL, Pallekele, 2024*

- 8 wickets by Indian spinners are also the second most against Sri Lanka in a T20I after nine by South Africa at Colombo in 2021.

- This is the first time India won/tied a T20I match after losing 5 wickets for less than 50 runs.

- This is the 3rd time India whitewashed Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series after in 2017 and 2022.

Most defeats in T20Is (including Super Overs)
105 - Sri Lanka*
104 - Bangladesh
101 - West Indies
99 - Zimbabwe
99 - New Zealand

Most wins against a team in T20Is (including Super Overs)
23 - PAK vs NZ (44 mats)
22 - IND vs SL (32)*
21 - ENG vs PAK (31)
20 - IND vs AUS (32)

Most POTS awards in T20Is
6 - Virat Kohli
5 - Shakib Al Hasan
5 - David Warner
5 - Suryakumar Yadav*

> This is the fifth win in as many tied finishes for India in T20Is - four via Super Over and one via Bowl Out. Other than these, they featured in a rain-affected tied game against New Zealand in Napier in 2022 wherein the scores were tied on DLS before the match was called off due to rain.
> Each of the five tied finishes for India in T20Is came while defending a total. And this is the third loss for Sri Lanka in five Super Overs.

Suryakumar Yadav | Player of the Series: More than the last over, I feel when we were around 30/4 and 48/5, how the boys showed character in the middle and took the game away from them ... I felt 140 was a par score on that track. When we were going in during fielding session I told them, 'I have seen such kind of games. If we put our heart in for one and a half hours, we can pull it off.' If you are enjoying hitting 200-220s and winning games, you should enjoy 30/4 and 70/5 as well because that creates balance in your life and that's how you move on and just be humble. The amount of skill they have, self confidence what they bring into the table, it makes my job very easy. The positivity they have on the ground and in the dressing room, the care for each other what they show is unbelievable. After the last game, I said few boys are going to rest and they were the first ones to tell me, 'Okay we would rest and you can give opportunities to others.' That shows the character of the team and how happy they are for others' performance as well. They have made my job easy. When I go into bat, I have little pressure, I just enjoy to express myself. I said before the series, I don't want to be the captain, I want to be a leader.

Charith Asalanka: I am really disappointed about our batting line-up, especially middle-order and late middle-order. Very bad shot selection was the reason. Spinners were bowling that's why Hasaranga came up the order. We gave him the license to hit one or two boundaries, that didn't work for us. Wrong shot selection on this pitch. When the ball gets old, our shot selection should be spot-on, it's really hard to bat on these tracks. Definitely (the target was gettable), we can't give excuses. As professional cricketers, we need to do little bit more than this. I want to see good batting performances in the ODIs, not like T20s. Our top three and four have done well and that's the only positive I have. Boys will do something better.

Washington Sundar | Player of the Match: (Super Over) All the work that I did, a lot of blessings from God definitely helped me. I wanted to try and stay calm and focus on what I am supposed to do. Very grateful to Surya to throw the ball to me at that kind of a situation. Very grateful to get an opportunity in this game. Every game I get to play for my country, it's a blessing. I just need to do what I am supposed to do and keep working hard every single day. We did a bit of homework against their batsmen. There was little bit of purchase, I didn't have to do too much. I had to hit the right lengths very often.

Riyan Parag: I was disappointed, should’ve batted till the end and probably could’ve got 160. But great effort to 130 and the way we bowled was great. Wanted to keep it (bowling) very simple, it’s easy to get carried away (on a wicket like this). It was about keeping it stump to stump. I just had to keep it simple. I’ve been working on the leg-break, tried it in domestic, had some net sessions and it was coming out well. Surya bhai told me to go for it and it came out well. It was fun, we didn’t feel the nerves, we planned it in such a way that it was very spontaneous. Thought Siraj was going to bowl that last over and Surya bhai decided to roll his arm over. That’s our motto, we play hard but we have fun as well.

23:53 Local Time, 18:23 GMT, 23:53 IST: The new era under SKY & Gambhir is underway with a 3-0 series win. With the series already sealed, India made four changes to their XI for this match. Inserted to bat, they were reduced to 30/4 in the powerplay which later became 48/5. Gill and Parag forged a fifty partnership and then Washington Sundar played a crucial knock to take India's total to 137 - a competitive total on a spinning track. In reply, Sri Lanka got off to a cautious start with the openers scoring 35 runs off the powerplay. They slowly upped the ante and stitched a fifty partnership. Nissanka fell to Bishnoi but there was another half-century partnership. Sri Lanka were cruising with the two Kusals out in the middle looking in good touch. It was Sri Lanka's match to lose and they found a way to lose it. Bishnoi removed Mendis in his final over, Sundar picked two more off his fourth over. But when Khaleel bowled a lot of wides in the 18th over, most of us thought that the match was out of India's reach. Just 9 runs were needed off the last two overs. Sri Lanka made a mess of it against Rinku Singh and SKY! The Super Over was done and dusted quickly. Sundar nipped out Perera and Nissanka for ducks and then SKY wrapped it up in one ball. Crazy game of cricket!

Ball 1: Theekshana to Suryakumar Yadav, FOUR, India win! Full and darted down leg, SKY gets low and sweeps towards short fine leg where the fielder misfields and allows the ball to run away to the fine leg fence. India - 4/0

Sri Lanka are all-out for 2! So, India need just three runs to win this. This should be a cakewalk for India. Sri Lanka are in a team huddle. They disperse and in walk the Indian batters - Gill and Suryakumar Yadav. Theekshana has the ball in his hand. Off we go...

Ball 3: Washington Sundar to Nissanka, OUT! Caught by Rinku Singh! Full ball in the slot, Nissanka is down on one leg to slogsweep. Makes decent contact but doesn't get the necessary elevation. Straightforward catch for Rinku at deep midwicket. Sundar jumps and punches the air. Nissanka c Rinku Singh b Washington Sundar 0(1). Sri Lanka - 2/2

Ball 2: Washington Sundar to Perera, OUT! Caught by Bishnoi! Sundar pulls his length back and bowls it slow, Perera rocks back to pull and hits it straight down deep backward square leg's throat. Perera c Bishnoi b Sundar 0(1). Sri Lanka - 2/1

Ball 1: Washington Sundar to Kusal Mendis, 1 run, flat ball, swept through midwicket for a single. Sri Lanka - 2/0

Ball 1: Washington Sundar to Kusal Mendis, wide, tossed up, full and outside off, Mendis walks across to try and sweep, misses. Wided. Sri Lanka - 1/0

Sri Lanka's collapses:
1st T20I - 30/9 in 6 overs
2nd T20I - 31/7 in 5 overs
3rd T20I - 22/7 in 4.2 overs

23:37 Local Time, 18:07 GMT, 23:37 IST: Phew! Sri Lanka collapse for the third time in as many matches but they have managed to avoid a defeat for the time being. They needed 30 runs off the last 30 balls with nine wickets in hand and they stuttered again. Sri Lanka will bat first in the Super Over and Siraj was selecting the ball. Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis- Sri Lanka's top-scorers - walk out to bat. Samson is wearing his helmet, so it's going to be a spinner. Washington Sundar it is! Mendis is on strike.

Suryakumar Yadav to Wickramasinghe, 2 runs, TIE! Full delivery, Wickramasinghe gets low and swipes it to long-on fetching it from outside off. The throw comes to the bowler's end, Suryakumar can't gather it cleanly and Fernando makes his ground with a dive. It's Super Over time

3 runs | 1 ball. Chants of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka from the crowd. Two for a Super Over!