Hasaranga spins a web as Sri Lanka claim series victory

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Winning the toss and opting to bat first, India got off to the worst possible start as skipper Shikhar Dhawan departed in the first over of the match. This put an already shallow batting line-up under further pressure and the visitors simply could not recover from the blow of losing their most experienced campaigner early on.

Devdutt Padikkal, playing his second T20I would depart soon after, being run-out on 9. A double-strike in the fifth over by Hasaranga would get the wickets of Sanju Samson (0) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (14), as the visitors found themselves stuttering at 25/4.

With the lower-order already exposed, India failed to inject any sort of momentum into their innings as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals on a slow and low wicket in Colombo. Their task was made even tougher with the brilliant fielding efforts of the Sri Lankans, who were charged up, clearly sniffing a series victory. This was highlighted by the brilliant caught and bowled by skipper Dasun Shanaka to get the scalp of Nitish Rana.

The spinners put the choke on in the middle overs, as India only managed to end up with a paltry total of 81/8 in their quota of 20 overs.

In reply, the visitors got off to a steady start, with Avishka Fernando and Binod Bhanuka laying down the platform for the chase. But the introduction of leggie Rahul Chahar into the attack gave India a glimmer of hope.

He first dismissed Fernando (12) with a caught and bowled and then followed it up by trapping his opening partner Bhanuka (18) in front of the stumps. Chahar would then come up with a peach of a delivery, bowling Sadeera Samarawickrama for 6 in the final ball of his spell. Yet, on 56/3, the hosts still found themselves in a relatively comfortable position.

Dhananjaya de Silva (23*) and Hasaranga (14*) ensured that there were no further hurdles for Sri Lanka, as they sealed a comfortable 7-wicket victory with 33 balls to spare to clinch the series with a 2-1 margin.