HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND - FEBRUARY 05: Shreyas Iyer of India celebrates his century during game one of the One Day International Series between New Zealand and India at Seddon Park on February 05, 2020 in Hamilton, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
KEY STORY
Shreyas Iyer scored his third consecutive half-century of the series to seal another whitewash for India under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy with a six-wicket victory. This is the Men in Blue’s third consecutive 3-0 T20I series win since Rohit took over the captaincy on a permanent basis in the shortest format of the game.
With the win at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharmshala, India completed their 12th straight win in the T20I format. They have leveled Afghanistan’s world record of most wins in a row in the shortest format by a Test playing nation in the process.
Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss and chose to bat first. After a poor start, a splendid knock of 74 in just 38 balls helped the visitors put on a total of 146 on the board. However, the hosts chased down the total with ease as Shreyas lead the way with a knock of 73 in 45 balls.
With the series in the bag, India decided to make four changes in the playing XI as Ishan Kishan missed out due to injury. Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvenshwar Kumar were rested. Avesh Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravi Bishnoi were drafted in the playing XI.
CONCLUSION
It was the new ball pair of Avesh and Siraj who did the damage as Sri Lanka found themselves struggling at 11-3. Ultimately, Avesh took two wickets while Siraj, Bishnoi, and Harshal Patel chipped in with one wicket each.
Skipper Rohit Sharma was dismissed for just five runs while his new opening partner Sanju Samson managed to make 18 runs. Deepak Hooda made a handy knock of 21 while Venkatesh Iyer was dismissed without making a significant impact on the scorecard. However, Ravindra Jadeja once again gave Shreyas solid support with an unbeaten innings of 22 in 15 balls to ensure India get over the line with 19 balls remaining.
