Clinical India won the first T20 series of the year

Image courtesy: bhaskar.com

India 201 for 6 (Rahul 54, Dhawan 52, Pandey 31*, Sandakan 3-35) beat Sri Lanka 123 (Dhananjaya 57, Mathews 31, Saini 3-28) by 78 runs

Pune: India defeating Sri Lanka by 78 runs in the last in the third and final Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka on Friday.

India won second match in Indore and the opening rained-off match in Guwahati.
 
In chase massiv 202, Jasprit Bumrah took Sri Lanka's first wicket the last ball of the first over, Washington Sundar picked up Danushka Gunathilaka's catch.

Fast bowler Bumrah became the highest wicket taker for the country in T20s during this match. He got 53 wickets in his 44 matches. He left behind Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Shardul Thakur picked up Sri Lankan second opener Avishka Fernando in the very next over catch by Iyer.

Dhananjay D'Silva scored 57 runs and caught Bumrah off Saini. This is the second half-century of his career.

Angelo Mathews was dismissed by 31 runs. Mathews shared a 68-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Dhananjay.

Dardun Shanaka (9) was sent by Pardhian to Shardul.

Hasaranga (0) was runout by Chahal.

Danushka Gunatilaka (1) was caught by Jasprit Bumrah in the hands of Washington Sundar.

Avishka Fernando (9) was caught by Shardul Thakur in the hands of Shreyas.

Oshada Fernando (2) was runout by Manish Pandey. Kushal Perera (7) was bowled by Navdeep Saini.

Earlier, attacking half-centuries from KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan helped India reach 201 for six.

Rahul, who made 54, and Dhawan, who hit 52, put on 97 runs for the opening wicket as India.

Left-arm wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan claimed three wickets including the openers but cameos from Manish Pandey and Shardul Thakur made India finish with a flourish, getting 63 runs from the last five overs.

Pandey, scoring 31 off 18 balls, and Thakur, with his eight-ball 22, put on 37 runs for the seventh wicket as the duo managed to get 19 runs off the last over.

Earlier, the left-handed Dhawan was dropped on one by Dasun Shanaka at deep square leg off Angelo Mathews and made most of the spill as he recorded his 10th T20 fifty in just 34 balls.

Sandakan finally got Dhawan and struck twice in his next over to send back Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, for four, trudging back to the pavilion as India slipped to 122-4.

Skipper Virat Kohli, who dropped himself to number six in the batting order, then took the attack to the opposition bowlers with his 17-ball 26 before being run out while attempting a second run.