India vs Sri Lanka 2017: 3rd ODI, 5 things we learnt from the match

Spurred on by wrist spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, India bowled Sri Lanka out for 215 in the series decider at Visakhapatnam. Although Lanka removed Rpjot early in the chase courtesy their sensible move to open the attack with Akila Dananjaya, Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer combined in a 135 run partnership to bury the Lankans.

Dhawan raced to a 12th ODI hundred while Iyer was dismissed after an equally impressive 65. Earlier, Upul Tharanga made a smashing 95 but failed to garner support from his teammates. Eventually, the visitors los their way against the young wrist spinners.

India were rarely disturbed in the run chase after Rohit Sharma's dismissal and raced to a comfortable series win in no time.

#5 Upul Tharanga blazes away

Tharanga was at his beastly best

Upul Tharanga has endured a torrid time of late in Tests but that did not deter him from sticking to his natural ways in ODIs and the opener blazed away to a terrific start. He took on Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with conviction before slamming Hardik Pandya for five fours in succession to edge closer to a half-century.

Even as the spinners started bowling in tandem, Tharanga appeared least perturbed and rocked back to cut or stood steady to smash them over their heads. He reached a 1000 runs in ODIs in 2017 during this knock and was the most comfortable of Lankan batsmen against Chahal and Kuldeep. However, he fell to a lightning bit of stumping work by MS Dhoni when on 95.

#4 Kuldeep impresses after coming back in

Kuldeep Yadav was difficult to pick and bowled beautifully in the decider

Kolkata Knight Riders' chinaman spinner had missed the second ODI and hadn't bowled in the first where India lost even before the spinners could come into the attack. However, on a sluggish Visakhapatnam wicket, Kuldeep was back in the scheme of things and troubled Sri Lanka with his variations.

While Chahal went for a few runs early, Kuldeep contained, bowled beautifully, and set back the run rate. He accounted for the vital scalps of Upul Tharanga, who was in a rampant mood, and Niroshan Dickwella, one of Lanka's best batsmen in recent times. He added one more late in the innings to finish with three in the game.

#3 Yuzvendra Chahal revels against the middle-order

Chahal was yet again amongst the wickets

Yuzvendra Chahal is a master at plotting the downfall of batsmen although it is no surprise given his history playing national level chess tournaments. The wily leg-spinner did not have an ideal start with Tharanga and Samarawickrama teeing off against him but returned with aplomb to wreck the Lankan middle-order.

He bamboozled Samarawickrama with his leg-break to cut off a 121 run partnership and create an opening for India's bowlers to attack. He then produced a crackjacker of a leg-spinner to send Mathews on his way and put Lanka back to its misery. As though that weren't enough, he finished them off with the skipper, Thisara Perera's scalp.

#2 Finally a way to get the Hitman?

He was dismissed in a similar fashion in the IPL as wellA game after Rohit Sharma smashed his third ODI double hundred, Sri Lanka - at the receiving end of two of them - might have rekindled a way to counter the rampant opener. They opened the bowling with Akila Dananjaya, that tricky mystery leg-spinner and reaped immediate returns as the Mumbaikar struggled to get going.

Dananjaya eventually tossed up a wicked googly, and Rohit pushing forward, left a gaping hole between bat and pad. The ball spun between and knocked off the timber much to the dismay of Indian fans. It wasn't the first time, though, that a googly had deceived Sharma. It had happened in the ODIs against Lanka three months back and in the 2017 IPL season (on three occasions).

#1 Shreyas Iyer is here to stay

Shreyas Iyer was in outstanding touch for India

Shreyas Iyer has been India's find of the series. The flamboyant no.3 batsman smashed his second consecutive half-century walking behind the openers and a characteristic of both innings' was his fearlessness and ability to push the opposition onto the back-foot.

Iyer didn't take too long to stamp his presence at the crease and unfurled a flurry of good looking shots. None of the bowlers were spared as he and Dhawan competed in a race amongst themselves. The duo looked indomitable and gave India a resounding start to the run chase. Iyer eventually fell to Perera on 65.