India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd T20I: 5 things which went right for the hosts

Sri Lanka finally managed to turn up for the first time in the Twenty20 series, but unfortunately, their best foot forward was not good enough as India managed to sneak home by five wickets.

With this win, the hosts walloped Sri Lanka 3-0 in the series and the visitors will have to go back to drawing board and go over whatever went wrong.

India, on the other hand, will now embark on their overseas series brimming with confidence and this augurs well for the Men in Blue.

Here, in this slider, we take a look five things which went right for the hosts.

#5 Opening spell by Jaydev Unadkat

One of the finds of this series, Jaydev Unadkat did his reputation no harm in the three matches and did brilliantly both with the new ball and then back again towards the death.

The left-armer took out Niroshan Dickwella for the third time this series when he deceived him with a slower ball as the left-hander wanted to take him over mid-on, but could only spoon it to mid-on.

He then took care of Upul Tharanga with another slowish ball as the attempted flick found deep square leg perfectly.

The Saurashtra-man finished his spell of four overs by conceding just 15 runs at a frugal economy rate of 3.75.

#4 Washington Sundar's impressive debut

The young man from Chennai made his T20I debut and was entrusted with bowling the first over. He was tight from the get-go and never allowed the Sri Lankan batsmen to get going.

His lengths were spot on and the visitors did not get any leeway at all. Sundar reaped the wicket of Kusal Perera as he got the ball to straighten which found the leading edge of Perera's bat.

There were barely any freebies and his figures at the end of four overs reflected his work. He conceded 22 runs in his quota of four overs and perhaps his debut was one of the shining lights for India in the third T20I.

#3 Hardik Pandya's fiery spell

If there was one cause of concern for India in this series, it was the bowling form of Hardik Pandya. However, he put all the worries to rest by coming out and zipping the ball through at a lively pace.

He tested the middle of the pitch and kept testing the Sri Lankan batsmen. Pandya returned with figures of 25 runs for two wickets in his four overs. The Wankhede pitch assisted his bowling as it had true bounce and carry.

Also, his quota consisted of 11 dot balls, which were a big bonus for Rohit Sharma as a captain, who had only five bowlers at his disposal.

#2 Iyer-Pandey partnership

India were in a spot of bother in their chase when they lost captain Rohit Sharma and were reduced to 39 for two.

They needed a solid partnership to get things back on track and two young men in Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer came to the fore. They took their time initially, saw off the tricky phase and then slowly upped the scoring rate.

Their running between the wickets was brilliant too as both young men kept the pressure on the fielders and more often than not converted the ones into twos.

Iyer was unlucky to be run out at the non-striker's end for 30, but not before the duo had added a critical 42 runs for the third wicket.

#1 Calmness of Dhoni-Karthik at the end

India lost Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey in quick succession and suddenly the game assumed a more critical picture for the hosts.

Sri Lanka managed to string together few dot deliveries which pushed up the required run rate.

However, there was the exuberance of Dinesh Karthik and the calmness of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and they never looked hassled at all.

With a partnership of 31 in 19 deliveries, the duo saw the game through and India completed a 3-0 whitewash in the three-match T20I series.

Dinesh Karthik remained unbeaten on 18 off 12 balls and Dhoni, who nudged a boundary to complete the chase, was unbeaten on 16 off 10 deliveries.