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India 139 for 5 (Pandey 32, Iyer 30, Chameera 2-22, Shanaka 2-27) beat Sri Lanka 135 for 7 (Gunaratne 36, Shanaka 29*, Unadkat 2-15, Pandya 2-25) by five wickets
Mumbai: India took time but eventually chased down the modest target of 136 runs in 19.2 overs to beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the third and final Twenty20 International at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
The hosts completed 3-0 series whitewash with the thrilling victory.
Senior batsmen MS Dhoni (16 not out) and Dinesh Karthik (18 not out) took India home with four balls to spare in the end. The duo added a match-winning unbeaten 31 runs for the sixth wicket.
India struggled early in the chase as they lost opener KL Rahul in the fourth over and reduced to 17/1.
Rohit Sharma (27 off 20 balls) continued his good form and hit a six and four fours to lead the chase before he was holed out at deep square off Dasun Shanaka, leaving India at 39/2.
It was not easy to bat, but Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey slowly rebuilt the innings and added 42 runs, in 38-balls, for the third wicket to take India closer to the target.
Iyer, who scored 30 off 32 balls with the help of a six and a four, was unlucky to lose his wicket at the non-striker's end when the ball ricochet from the bowler Akila Dananjaya's palm and hit the stumps.
By then the match was evenly poised with India at 81/3 in 13.2 overs.
India lost Manish Pandey (32) and Hardik Pandya (4) in seven balls to give Sri Lanka more hopes as India reached 108/5 in 16.1 overs. After Pandya became the second victim of Shanaka, Dushmantha Chameera clean bowled Pandey.
Pandey top-scored for India with 32 off 29 balls which included four boundaries.
Earlier, Indian bowlers continued to torment the Sri Lankan batsmen as the hosts restricted the visitors to a modest 135 for seven.
Asela Gunaratne was the only batsman, who applied himself well and played a slow but crucial 36-run knock that took Sri Lanka past the 100-run mark.
Jaydev Unadkat, who generated a lot of pace in his first spell, was the most outstanding Indian bowler with figures of impressive 4-0-15-2. Mohammed Siraj, though proved very expensive, leaking 45 runs from his four overs with 18 coming in the last over of the innings.
Debutant Washington Sundar (1/22) and Unadkat removed the top three batsmen in space of 11 balls to rattle the visitors.
The 18-year-old Sundar maintained a tight line and length, and caught dangerous Kusal Perera (4) off his own bowling after Unadkat got rid of Niroshan Dickwella (1).
The Saurashtra paceman added wicket of Upul Tharanga (11) to his tally as the Lankan opener was guilty of playing a reckless shot considering the situation.
Sundar erred slightly in his length, allowing Gunaratne to pull the ball away towards mid-wicket for a much-needed boundary. In a three-over spell, Sundar conceded 18 runs while Unadkat gave away only seven runs in his impressive two-over spell as Sri Lanka managed 37 runs in Powerplay.
Sadeera Samarawickrama (21) also did not last long and was dismissed by Hardik Pandya, who had struck him on the helmet before having him caught by Dinesh Karthik.
