Kohli, Pandey swat Sri Lanka aside in one-off T20I

Sri Lanka raised hopes. They did well to get the partisan crowd behind them but failed to keep up the intensity and slipped to another loss to hand India their ninth win of the tour. Set 171 in the one-off Twenty20 International in Colombo on Wednesday (September 6), India polished off the chase in the last over with seven wickets in hand. Virat Kohli made 82 while Manish Pandey boosted his chances of an extend run with the national team by scoring an unbeaten 51.

Ahead of the tour, India's performance in 2014 was talked up. But Kohli and his class of 2017 went a step ahead, whitewashing the hosts 3-0 in Tests and 5-0 in One-Day Internationals and capped off a successful tour swatting the hosts aside in every single clash.

The late flourish in the Sri Lankan innings gave them the much-needed momentum and got the fans, who weren't given a lot to cheer in the preceding Test and ODI series, also going. The support propped up the home team as the fielders flung themselves around and kept the intensity going.

Sri Lanka managed to get Rohit Sharma (9) and KL Rahul (24) early. The latter fell to an excellent catch from Dasun Shanaka at extra cover to leave India at 42 for 2 in the sixth over. The momentum was on Sri Lanka's side but their nemesis was still at the crease. Kohli - the chaser supreme - took up the mantle and got the chase going after the powerplay and collaborated with Pandey to keep the chase on track.

They took India to 82 for 2 after ten overs, reducing the equation to a very manageable 89 off the last 60 deliveries. What the situation also did was make the match almost routine for the Indian captain where he can guide the team to a win like he has done in so many numerous chases.

The running between the wickets stood out, something the Sri Lankans missed out on trying to whack every single delivery out of the park. A drive there, a push here or a guide to third man or fine leg was coupled with big shots as the Sri Lankan bowlers failed to keep their chances alive.

Like in the past, lack of wicket-taking options hurt their chances as Kohli got to his half-century off just 30 balls. The ease with which Kohli went about in a chase rubbed off in Pandey as well. He opened up in the 12th over to take on Angelo Mathews, helping India canter past 100.

Kohli got to his 15,000th international run in the process of adding 119 with Pandey for the third wicket. But at the end of the 15th over, with 38 more needed, the Sri Lankans too had accepted the inevitable and were probably left ruing not capitalising in the middle overs.

Earlier, Sri Lanka threatened to amass a lot more but it was the contributions from Munaweera and Priyanjan that lifted them to a challenging total. Throughout the innings, their keenness to play attacking strokes stood out. And that, to some extent, led to their downfall as well.

Niroshan Dickwella picked up three boundaries in the second over but fell to a poor stroke where the left-hander gave himself little chance of connecting. He made room to scoop the ball to the third man fence but the only connection was of the ball meeting the off stumps. Prior to that, Upul Tharanga had been knocked over by a knuckle ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

All this while, India were certainly unaware of the Munaweera storm that was about to hit them. The right-hander started with two consecutive sixes against Yuzvendra Chahal in the fourth over. Sri Lanka had raced to 60 by the end of the powerplay.

With Mathews looking to guide the innings through and Munaweera ready to keep hammering a runs an exciting period beckoned for the fans. However, the former Sri Lanka captain was stumped leaving the team at 62 for 3. Munaweera, though, unfluttered by all the wickets tumbling from the other end, smashed a 26-ball 52 after looking really ungainly in the preceding ODI series.

Kuldeep Yadav, who bowled his four overs for just 20 and picked up two wickets, dismissed Munaweera in the 12th over. The batsman looked to smash the ball and in the process lost his bat. As the willow flew to the on side, the ball took out the off stump to end the 29-ball stay. The approach also signified the lack of confidence. As if the batsmen weren't sure about their abilities to hang in there and wanted to make the most out of their stay.

What followed was a wobble and the hosts soon found themselves at 113 for 6. Priyanjan looked clueless for most parts of his innings but did well to recover from that and take the team past to 170. He scored 40 and added 36 with Isuru Udana (19) for the eighth wicket.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 170/7 in 20 overs (Dilshan Munaweera 53, Ashan Priyanjan 40*; Yuzvendra Chahal 3-43, Kuldeep Yadav 2-20) vs India 174/3 in 19.2 overs (Virat Kohli 82, Manish Pandey 51*) by seven wickets.

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