3rd T20I: India beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets, win series 2-1

Visakhapatnam Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin weaved his magic with a careerbest fourwicket haul as India trounced Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the deciding third and final Twenty20 International to clinch the threematch series 21 here today Ashwin scalped two wickets in the very first over and then retruend with dream figures of 4184 as the hosts bundled out Sri Lanka 82 their lowest ever score in T20 cricketIndias Ravichandran Ashwin C celebrates with Hardik Pandya 3R after the team dismissed Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal during the third T20 international cricket match between India and Sri Lanka at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACAVDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam AFP PhotoBefore this Sri Lankas lowest total was 87 against Australia in 2010 at Bridgetown Ashwin was simply unplayable for the Sri Lankans on apitch which offered help to the spinners and took four wickets in his magical threeover opening spellBesides Ashwin Suresh Raina also shone with the ball by scalping two batsmen and giving away just six runs in his two oversThe series win also helped India retain its numero uno position in the ICC T20 rankings Such was the plight of the visitors that only two batsmen Dasun Shanaka 19 and Thisara Perera 12 managed to touch the doubledigit mark at ACAVDCA stadium The total was too small for India who overhauled the target in 135 overs after losing Rohit Sharma 13 early in the innings The Indians were in no hurry as they waited forbad balls to hit boundaries and relied on singles and twos to keep the scoreboard tickingOpener Shikhar Dhawan 46 off 46 and Ajinkya Rahane 22 off 24 took the side to the finishing line with an unbeaten 55 run partnership for the second wicketThere were not many boundaries but Dhawan finished off the match with a six and four off debutant Asela Gunaratne It was second successive series win for India after whitewashing Australia 30 in their own backyard Indias next assignment is Asia Cup in Bangladesh where they play the hosts on February 24 in the tournamentopener in MirpurRavichandran Ashwin tosses the ball as he prepares to bowl during the game AFP PhotoEarlier opting to field India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni handed out the new ball to Ashwin and he responded with two wickets in the first over of the matchAshwin had Niroshan Dickwella 1 stumped when the batsman charged down the track but was was completely beaten and the Indian captain had an easy stumping to doIn the last ball of the over Ashwin trapped Tillakaratne Dilshan 1 and when he retuned for his second over he had Dinesh Chandimal caught by Hardik Pandya as the rival skipper tried to cut loose but miscued a shotSri Lankan innings was in complete shambles losing the first three wickets with only 12 runs on the boardIn his third over Ashwin got rid of debutant Asela Gunaratne and soon the Lankans were gasping at 21 for five with leftarm paceman Ashish Nehra taking the fifth wicket Such was the dominance of the Indian bowlers that only six shots to the fence were played in seven overs It was only in the eighth over that Sri Lanka found two sixes through Dasun Shanaka 19 who whacked Yuvraj Singh twiceHowever Shanaka lost his partner Prasanna in the same over through a run out which was result of excellent field work by Ravindra Jadeja and Sri Lanka were tottering at 48 for six At halfway mark the visitors had managed to put on board only 54 runsThe wicket was assisting spinners and Dhoni had no hesitation in giving the ball to Jadeja and Raina Soon Jadeja sent back Shanaka 19 by going through his defence Ashwin returned for his final over but could not add any wicket to his tally but Raina scalped Sachitra Senanayke 8and Thisara Perera 12 in a space of three ballsBumrah folded the innings by castling Dilhara Fernando 1 in the last ball of the 18th over