Virat Kohli raises his bat upon bringing up his 17th half-century in Twenty20 Internationals

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

India captain Virat Kohli led by example as he scored a superb 82 to lead his side to a seven-wicket win in the one-off Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Kohli entered the record books as a result of his knock as he now has the most 50-plus scores against Sri Lanka in Twenty20 Internationals.

The 28-year-old continued his run of sublime form as he scored consecutive centuries in the fourth and fifth ODIs.

Being put in to bat first, Sri Lanka made a brisk start to their innings before captain Upul Tharanga was clean bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for five runs.

Niroshan Dickwella scored 17 before he was cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah, while Angelo Mathews was stumped by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off the bowling of Yuzvendra Chahal for seven runs.

Dilshan Munaweera gave Sri Lanka a much-needed spark with his knock of 53, which came off 29 balls and included five boundaries and four sixes.

Dilshan Munaweera’s maiden half-century went in vain

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Even though Sri Lanka continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, they ended up making 170/7 off their 20 overs thanks to Ashan Priyanjan’s unbeaten 40, which came off 40 deliveries and included a boundary and two sixes.

Chahal was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Kuldeep Yadav snapped up two, and Kumar and Bumrah chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Chasing 171 to win, India lost Rohit Sharma for nine runs in the third over, while Lokesh Rahul made a quickfire 24 before falling to Seekkuge Prasanna.

Kohli and Manish Pandey stabilised the innings with a 119-run partnership, during which Kohli surpassed his half-century.

With India cruising, Sri Lanka were in desperate need of a wicket and it was Isuru Udana who provided it as he took out Kohli for 82, which came off 54 balls and included seven boundaries and a six.

Despite losing Kohli, Pandey guided India to victory with four balls to spare via his unbeaten knock of 51, which came off 36 deliveries and included four boundaries and a six.

Pandey scored his first Twenty20 International fifty

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Prasanna, Udana and Lasith Malinga claimed one wicket each.

Tharanga was gutted to have lost, and said: “We were 15-20 runs short. We had a good start. Munaweera batted really well, but we lost momentum from overs 10-14. The way Virat batted was outstanding. He was an example for everyone, especially with his energy and running between the wickets.”

Kohli, who was named Man of the Match, was thrilled to have won the one-off Twenty20 International, and said: “Very special. It [the whitewash across formats] hasn’t been done before. Credit to the boys. The bench strength is coming up beautifully. We tried a few things, the results are amazing to see. Personally, I look to back my strengths and play cricketing shots. I’ve tried to mould my game for all formats. I want to play all the games.”