VISAKHAPATNAM: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recorded the best bowling figures by an Indian in Twenty20 Internationals to help his side beat Sri Lanka by nine wickets on Sunday and clinch the series 2-1.

Ashwin ripped through the top order with 4-8, improving on his own best of 4-11 against Australia at the World Twenty20 two years ago, as Sri Lanka were bowled out in only 18 overs for 82 — their lowest T20 total — at the VDCA Cricket Stadium

Suresh Raina chipped in with 2-6 his occasional off-spinners while Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja took a wicket each as the Sri Lankan batsmen fell to indiscreet shots on a pitch aiding turn.

India reached 84-1 in only 13.5 overs with opener Shikhar Dhawan top-scoring in the third and final match with a run-a-ball unbeaten 46 that included five boundaries and one six.

Ashwin was later adjudged both man-of-the-match and man-of-the-series.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

N. Dickwella st Dhoni b Ashwin 1 T.M. Dilshan lbw b Ashwin 1 L.D. Chandimal c Pandya b Ashwin 8 D.A.S. Gunaratne c Raina b Ashwin 4 T.A.M. Siriwardana b Nehra 4 M.D. Shanaka b Jadeja 19 S. Prasanna run out 9 N.L.T.C. Perera c Jadeja b Raina 12 S.M.S.M. Senanayake c Dhoni b Raina 8 P.V.D. Chameera not out 9 C.R.D. Fernando b Bumrah 1

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-3, NB-1) 6

TOTAL (all out, 18 overs) 82

FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-3, 3-12, 4-20, 5-21, 6-48, 7-54, 8-72, 9-73.

BOWLING: Ashwin 4-1-8-4; Nehra 2-0-17-1 (1w); Bumrah 3-0-10-1; Jadeja 4-1-11-1 (1w); Yuvraj Singh 1-0-15-0 (1nb); Pandya 2-0-13-0 (1w); Raina 2-0-6-2.

INDIA:

R.G. Sharma lbw b Chameera 13 S. Dhawan not out 46 A.M. Rahane not out 22

EXTRAS (LB-3) 3

TOTAL (for one wkt, 13.5 overs) 84

FALL OF WKT: 1-29.

DID NOT BAT: S.K. Raina, Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni, H.H. Pandya, R. Ashwin, J.J. Bumrah, A. Nehra.

BOWLING: Senanayake 4-0-22-0; Fernando 2-7-0; Chameera 2-0-14-1; Prasanna 1-0-3-0; Siriwardana 1-0-9-0; Gunaratne 2.5-0-22-0; Dilshan 1-0-5-0.

RESULT: India won by nine wickets to win series 2-1.

UMPIRES: A.K. Chaudhary (India) and C.K. Nandan (India).

TV UMPIRE: V.A. Kulkarni (India).

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ravichandran Ashwin.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Ravichandran Ashwin.

FIRST MATCH: Pune, Sri Lanka won by five wickets.

SECOND MATCH: Ranchi, India won by 69 runs.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2016