India sink SL in decider to keep no.1 T20 ranking

Ravichandran Ashwin and Shikhar Dhawan put in commanding performances to help India beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets in the decider of the 3 T20I series at Visakhapatnam on Sunday and retain their no. 1 spot in the ICC T20I rankings.

MS Dhoni went in with an unchanged side while Sri Lanka made three changes to their side from Ranchi for the decider. Winning the toss, Dhoni decided to bowl first and Ravichandran Ashwin's first over vindicated his decision with Niroshan Dickwella stumped off the second ball and Dilshan trapped LBW off the last ball.

Sri Lanka continued to unravel in Ashwin's next two overs with Chandimal and Gunaratne departing to leave SL on 20/4. He finished with 4/8, the best figures for India in a T20I.

Ashish Nehra took a wicket with his first ball then when Sri Lanka's batsmen decided to target Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja stepped in with superb fielding and a run out to reduce them to 48/6 after 8 overs. Jadeja, Raina and Bumrah wrapped up the tail as the defending World T20 champions folded for 82 in 18 overs.

Rohit Sharma missed a straighter one to be LBW but India's batsmen had no trouble chasing the total. Shikhar Dhawan carried on from where he had left off at Ranchi and was unfortunate to miss out on a half century, finishing on 46 off 46b with five fours and a six. Ajinkya Rahane made 22 off 24 to help Dhawan take India across in an unbeaten partnership of 55, giving India their biggest win in T20Is while chasing.