India prevail in Super Over after humdinger turnaround to clean sweep Sri Lanka

It was one of the most incredulous turnarounds in the history of T20I cricket where with five overs to go, a Sri Lanka win in the third T20I of the series looked like a foregone conclusion.

However, the last 4.2 overs saw Team India magically grab the game by its horns and force the hosts into an unexpected submission, a trait that also dented Sri Lanka into a very meek display in the first Super Over of the series to hand the Men in Blue a superb win.

Put into bat first, India entered an uncharted territory where they were welcomed by a host of nightmares. Yashasvi Jaiswal (10), Sanju Samson (0), Rinku Singh (1), Suryakumar Yadav (8) and Shivam Dube (13) fell like skittles in front of the roaring fireball from Sri Lanka. Reduced to 48/5, India needed someone who could bail them out of the immediate pickle and help them at least post a total for their bowlers to fight back.

Shubman Gill (39) and Riyan Parag (26) came together, steadied the ship and added 54 runs for the sixth wicket, allowing India to cross the three-figure mark. A late flourish from Washington Sundar (25) allowed India to get a handful of crucial runs as they finished their allotment of 20 overs with a total of 137/9.

Once again the Indian bowlers failed to break through the top-order of Sri Lanka as they managed to sail through without breaking a sweat. Pathum Nissanka (26) and Kusal Mendis (43) powered the hosts to a flying start. Despite the fall of Nissanka, the arrival of Kusal Perera saw the hosts keep control until quite some time as Sri Lanka cruised to 110 within just 15.1 overs. With 27 needed off 29 balls and nine wickets, the hosts were clearly the favourite to clinch this victory.

Surprisingly it all flipped when Ravi Bishnoi trapped Mendis in front of the stumps and pried open the floodgates which stayed shut for the majority of the innings. Wanindu Hasaranga couldn’t add much to the total as an attempt to go big ended up in the hands of Ravi Bishnoi.

From thereon, it was all India as Sri Lanka collapsed into an unprecedented decline, losing seven wickets for the last 22 runs. A surprise attack saw Rinku Singh and Suryakumar Yadav deliver the last two overs. The 19th over saw Sri Lanka score only three runs and lose two wickets while in the final over, the Indian captain conceded five runs and claimed two wickets to push the game into a Super Over, much to the disbelief of the fans and experts alike across the globe.

The Super Over though turned out into an absolute dampener for the hosts as Sri Lanka could only rack up 2 runs while Suryakumar Yadav finished the chase in the first ball itself with a boundary in the fine leg region.

Washington Sundar won the Player of the Match award for his incredible part in flipping the tide, first with the bat and then with the ball. Suryakumar Yadav was awarded the Player of the Series for his incredible run with the bat while also chiming in with a couple of wickets in the final over of the series.