Colombo: Skipper Virat Kohli hit a blazing half-century as India completed their rout of Sri Lanka on this tour, winning the one-off Twenty20 by seven wickets in Colombo on Wednesday.
The visitors remained unbeaten in their nine matches against Sri Lanka as they won the Test and one-day series 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.
Chasing 171 for victory, India rode on a 119-run second-wicket stand between Kohli (82) and Manish Pandey (51 not out) to achieve their target with four balls to spare.
Kohli remained calm in a tricky chase with Pandey for company after India lost their openers for 42 runs in the sixth over.
Rohit Sharma fell to veteran paceman Lasith Malinga for nine and Lokesh Rahul was done in by a superb catch by Dasun Shanaka at short cover off Seekkuge Prasanna.
But Kohli took the attack to the opposition with 7 fours and a six during his 54-ball knock before falling to Isuru Udana with India requiring 10 runs to win.
Pandey finished off the game with a boundary that brought his maiden T20 fifty in 36 balls.
Earlier leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal played his part by claiming three wickets to restrict Sri Lanka to 170-7 after being put into bat first.
Dilshan Munaweera smashed his maiden half-century while debutant Ashan Priyanjan played a useful hand to guide Sri Lanka to a respectable total.
Playing his 10th T20 match, Munaweera scored a quick-fire 53 off 29 balls with the help of five boundaries and as many as four hits over the fence to keep up Sri Lanka’s momentum at the R. Premadasa Stadium here.
He was ably supported by Priyanjan, who scored a run-a-ball unbeaten 40 during which he hit one boundary and two sixes to take Sri Lanka to the fighting total.
For India, young leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 43 from his four overs, while chinaman Kuldeep Yadav scalped two for 20.
Priyanjan played a handy knock to save the hosts from the blushes after losing their way in the middle overs once again. This was after the match started a 55 minutes delay because of wet outfield following rains.
Put into bat, Sri Lanka made a hectic start with Niroshan Dickwella (17) attacking Jasprit Bumrah (1/38) at the start.
It forced India skipper Virat Kohli to introduce spin early into the powerplay in the form of Chahal. Skipper Upul Tharanga (5) played on a Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/36) delivery in the third over.
