That’s another sweep

Shreyas Iyer hit an unbeaten halfcentury as India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the third T20I to make a 30 clean sweep in the threematch series here on SaturdayChasing 147 India were reeling at 893 inside 11 overs when Shreyas came up with an unbeaten 73 from 45 balls to chase down the target with 19 balls to spareRavindra Jadeja once again played a perfect support with 22 not out from 15 balls as the duo stitched together an unbroken stand of 45 runs to give India a 30 sweep chasing down the target in 165 oversAvesh makes amendsEarlier Avesh Khan made amends for a forgettable debut as his scorching opening spell alongside Mohammed Siraj helped India restrict Sri Lanka to 146 for fiveFor India skipper Rohit Sharma who became the most capped T20I player in world cricket with his 125th appearance in the national jersey it was a delight to see the reserves coming out and performing on a track that had enough pace and bounce to help the speed merchantsEven the two wrist spinners Ravi Bishnoi 40321 and Kuldeep Yadav 40250 did well enough to bottle up the islanders on a chilly nightStrange 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 himSri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka was once again the saviour with a 74 not out off 38 balls that took his team close to 150run mark Shanaka hit nine fours and two sixesBut it was Avesh 41232 and Siraj 40221 who just dismantled the Lankan toporder with pace and bounce as they were reduced to 11 for 3 in the fourth over and there was no coming back from thereSiraj started it by hurrying Danushka Gunathilaka 0 with a short ball which he tried to pull but only managed to drag back onto the stumpsAvesh who went for 40 odd runs on debut on a Eden Gardens belter bowled much fuller from his usual backoflength stuff and sent back Pathum Nissanka 1 and Charith Asalanka 4 both deliveries hitting the bat faster than they could have comprehendedThe best part about Indiarsquos performance was that vicecaptain Jasprit Bumrah veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar and first choice wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal were given a much needed breakRohit spoilt for choiceThe skipper is spoilt for choice as he and coach Rahul Dravid are slowly building a setup where they have multiple options for each and every position in both departmentsThe only missing link in the T20 squad is the absence of a good offspinner as the Indian team management is unlikely to go back to Ravichandran Ashwin for the T20 World Cup in AustraliaOtherwise the team looks in good health Also consider the fact that people who are not playing this series include Virat Kohli Rishabh Pant and KL RahulThere is Suryakumar Yadav Deepak Chahar and now Ishan Kishan getting injured at some point and Shardul Thakur being rested Yet a Test specialist like Siraj and the fiery Avesh or the committed Harshal Patel 40291 are all making their cases for selection going into the bigticket event eight months from nowBrief scoresSL 1465 in 20 overs D Shanaka 74 D Chandimal 22 A Khan 223 lost to India 1484 in 165 overs S Iyer 73 R Jadeja 22 L Kumara 239 by six wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever