Shreyas seizes the opportunity, big time!

Dharamsala: Making full use of opportunities that came his way, Shreyas Iyer was breathing down Suryakumar Yadav’s neck as India completed a clean sweep with consummate ease, beating Sri Lanka by six wickets in the third and final T20 International here on Sunday.

The Indian team’s last three T20 home series against New Zealand, West Indies and now Sri Lanka have ended in identical 3-0 margins. Chasing a target of 147, it was like a walk in the park for Shreyas, who smashed 73 not out off 45 balls to complete the chase in 16.5 overs after Avesh Khan and Mohammed Siraj enjoyed a brilliant run in the powerplay overs. Shreyas, whose game against the short ball was once found to be suspect, had a rubber to remember with a hat-trick of halfcenturies, an aggregate of 200 runs that fetched him the Playerof-the-Series Award.

Come to think of it, Shreyas is fighting for one elusive middleorder spot with Suryakumar, who was the Player of the Series against the West Indies before sustaining a hairline fracture on his right hand. Not only in the third match but throughout the series what was evident was that Shreyas was in control of the pull shots which he had been made to practice for hours in the nets.

He is getting in line to keep the pulls down and now presents a happy headache for skipper Rohit Sharma, who became the most capped player in T20s with 125 games, one more than Pakistan’s ageless wonder, Shoaib Malik. It was a ‘Super Subs’ day out with India making four changes in the playing XI, including Ishan Kishan due to concussion.

They came up trumps without breaking much sweat. Avesh made amends for a forgettable debut as his scorching opening spell alongside Mohammed Siraj put the Sri Lankans on the back foot straightaway, as both made full use of the pace and bounce on offer on the Dharamsala track.

Even the two wrist spinners, Ravi Bishnoi (4-0-32-1) and Kuldeep Yadav (4-0-25-0), did well enough to bottle up the islanders on a chilly night. Strange enough, for two years Bishnoi has been only bowling googlies but with so much accuracy, that the batters in IPL and now in international cricket are yet to get a measure of him.

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka was once again the saviour with a 74 not out off 38 balls that took his team close to 150-run mark. But it was Avesh (4-1-23-2) and Siraj (4-0-22-1), who dismantled the Lankan top-order.

Scorecard
SRI LANKA Innings:
Nissanka c VR Iyer b Avesh Khan 1
Danushka Gunathilaka b Mohammed Siraj 0
Asalanka c †Samson b Avesh Khan 4
Charith Asalanka not out 53
Janith Liyanage b Ravi Bishnoi 9
Chandimal † c VR Iyer b Patel 22
Dasun Shanaka (c) not out 74
Karunaratne not out 12

Extras: (b 4, lb 14, w 6) 24
Total: (20 Ov, RR: 7.30) 146/5
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-5, 3-11, 4-29, 5-60
Bowling: Mohammed Siraj 4-0-22-1, Avesh Khan 4-1-23-2, Harshal Patel 4-0-29-1, Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-22-0, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-32-1

INDIA Innings:
Sanju Samson † c †Chandimal b Karunaratne 18
Rohit Sharma c Karunaratne b Chameera 5
Shreyas Iyer not out 73
Deepak Hooda b Kumara 21
Venkatesh Iyer c sub (P Jayawickrama) b Kumara 5
Ravindra Jadeja not out 22

Extras: (w 4) 4
Total: (16.5 Ov, RR: 8.79) 148/4
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-51, 3-89, 4-103 Bowling: Binura Fernando 4-0-35-0 , Chameera 3-0-19-1, Lahiru Kumara 3.5-0-39-2, Chamika Karunaratne 3.4-0- 31-1, Jeffrey Vandersay 2.2-0-24-0