SL vs IND | 3rd T20: Wanindu Hasaranga leads Sri Lanka to first series win over India in 13 years

If you’re told that Sri Lanka will win the T20 series 2-1 and lose the ODI series 1-2 against India before the start of the tour, most definitely, you would have burst out laughing. There would have been nothing but excess optimism on the side of the person predicting such a strong Sri Lankan performance, while you would have backed all your arguments with non-contestable facts.

Well, Cricket is a game of uncertainty and that any team on a given day can turn victorious irrespective of their past and future they potentially deserve are some of the age-old cliches of this game, and Sri Lanka dug deep to prove all of that right against India.

On the night of the series decider, India were depleted once again with just five batsmen left to be picked from and the hosts buoyant after a strong win in the last game.

India batted first after winning the toss in a decision that raised many eyebrows as it allowed Sri Lanka to attack their main weakness—a thin batting lineup. The problem compounded when an ever so impressive Dushmantha Chameera, who has walked away from the series with reputation several notch higher found the outside edge of Shikhar Dhawan’s bat to send Indian skipper back to pavilion on the first ball.

By then, Ruturaj Gaikwad had already played a delightful cover drive but could not get going rapidly. His news partner Devdutt Padikkla struggled to get off the hook straight away and the mounting dot balls kept telling on him. Padikkal bats in a much-organised manner but he really felt the pressure when Sri Lanka squeezed him for runs and ultimately led to his demise in a bizarre manner.

Sanju Samson has not been able to read Sri Lanka’s emerging rockstar—Wanindu Hasaranga’s deliveries one bit in all the four matches he has played, and the story could not have been any similar. This time though, it was quite short as well and the leg spinner celebrating his 24th birthday sent back both Samson and Gaikwad in the same over to put a big question mark on India’s batting.

Nitish Rana too failed to cash in on the perfect opportunity to become a hero while Bhuvneshwar Kumar fell in an attempt of making things happen with the bat. Hasaranage picked as many as four wickets, giving away only nine runs and India were staring at their historic lowest total in T20Is.

Kuldeep Yadav batted with control and steered India past their lowest total in T20 international history but the score was not enough to stop highly-spirited hosts.

India needed nothing short of a miracle to defend the score of 82 and Sri Lanka were in no mood to let go of the opportunity to win their first series against India in 13 years.

Rahul Chahar provided India with timely breakthroughs but Sri Lanka had the luxury of time at the crease and in the end, they could nullify all India had to throw at them.

India were plagued by Covid-19 and the writing was always on the wall with just five specialist batsmen to choose from in the last two games on the tour. However, those five batsmen left a lot to be desired and also did not enhance their reputation one bit.

For Sri Lanka, the leadership of Shanaka brought much-needed calmness and assurance in the leadership position as he allowed people such as Hasaranga and Chmaika Karunaratne to take the center stage and own the flow of the game. The Sri Lankan team management deserves all the plaudits for turning things quickly after losing the second ODI of the series from a winning position.