Sri Lanka vs India, 3rd T20I at Kandy, SL vs IND, Jul 30 2024 - Ball by Ball Commentary

12.15am SKY collects the series trophy and hands it to his team-mates. Parag holds it aloft and celebrates with Rinku. Washington is all smiles. Even coach Gambhir breaks into a smile. That is that. Hope you enjoyed our coverage of the T20I series as much as we did bringing it to you. Do come back for the ODI series, which begins on August 2. Until then, this is Deivarayan Muthu signing off the behalf of Hemant Brar and P Ranjith. Take care and good night.

Afaq: ""..who breaks into a smile." Looks like Dravid's message fulfilled its purpose."

Krish: "Strange to think that despite being in this team, Matheesha Pathirana played no part in this match because of the shoulder injury. Easily the Lankan POTS, he could have been the difference today."

11.55pm What a bizarre finish. Heartbreak for SL. Joy for India. SKY hugs Gambhir, who breaks into a little smile as well. SL will be kicking themselves for losing 9 for 29, including the Super Over. India had no business winning this game. SKY and Rinku ended up bowling India to victory along with Washington. What just happened?

SKY, Player of the Series and winning captain: I think more than the last over, when we were 30 for 4 and 48 for 5, the way we showed character [with the bat]. 140 was a par score on this track. I told them I've seen such kinds of games and I told the boys if you put your heart into it, you can pull it off. The amount of skill they have and self-confidence they have - it makes my job easy. The care for each other they show is unbelievable. They made my job easy and when I go into bat, I have little pressure and I just express myself. I don't want to be the captain. I want to be the leader

Asalanka, SL captain: Definitely, really disappointed, especially the middle order and lower-middle order. Very bad shot selection. The thinking was spinners were bowling and that's why Hasaranga came up the order and we gave him the license to hit one or two boundaries. I think especially we played some wrong shots and when the ball gets old, the shot selection has to be spot on. We can't give excuses and we have to do more than this. I want to see good batting performance in ODIs and I think the boys will do better.

Washington, Player of the Match: I guess all the work I did and a lot of blessings from god helped me. I just wanted to try and stay calm and focus on what I needed to do. Grateful to Surya to throw the ball to come in that kind of a situation. Very grateful to have gotten an opportunity in this game. I just need to do what I need to do. We did a bit of homework against their batsmen and there was some purchase in the wicket and I just sort of had to hit the right length.

Piyush Shah: "India had no business winning this.. but they did!"

nc: "The current SL team reminds me of the Indian cricket team of the 80s and the 90s. Batting collapses like the one by SL has had in this series were quite frequent especially against quality teams. But look where India is today. So don't lose heart SL. Things can only go up from here. "

Krish : "Lankan batting in this series has been a nightmare for the entire cricket fraternity in Sri Lanka, especially after the women's team won the World Cup during the time this series was played "

Parag: I think the intent [with the ball] was to keep it simple. It's easy to get carried away when it's turning much. I just had to hit the right areas. Rinku bhai and Surya at the end... I've tried it out at domestic. It [legspin] has been coming out well at the nets. It was fun and we didn't feel the nerves. I was sure Siraj was going to bowl but Surya bhai came in. It was fun and at the same time we are ruthless.

11.48pm Washington sips some water and takes a breather. Job well done. SL huddle up. Will Theekshana bowl the Super Over for the hosts? Yep. SKY has to come out to bat for India after doing the job for India in the 20th over. Indeed, captain SKY and vice-captain Gill will open the batting for India in the Super Over

Nissanka walks into bat