India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: Sri Lanka tour of India, 2020 Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Date & Time: Jan 10, 07:00 PM LOCAL

Virat Kohli and Co. will hope to seal their first series win in 2020. © AFP

Comfortable win

The impressive Saini provided the finishing by removing Malinga with a short ball. Easy win for the home team as they sealed the series 2-0. Rahul and Dhawan with vital hands while the bowlers chipped away. Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 123. Another bad day for the tourists.

Enterprisingknock

In the midst of Sri Lanka's collapse, Dhananjaya has compiled a fine fifty. However, his knock looks set to end in a losing cause.

Falling apart

Shardul Thakur had Dasun Shanaka caught and bowled and now Chahal has Wanindu Hasaranga run out for a duck. Seven down and already in exit more.

Sri Lanka 110 for 7

Washington strikes

Tossed up outside off and Mathews wanted to go for consecutive sixes. Gets the bottom of the bat and he's caught at long-on.

Sri Lanka 94 for 5

114 needed off 54 now ... 62 off 35 now between de Silva and Mathews.

Pace is pace yaar ...

Full and fast, Kusal Perera made room and was late in getting the bat down. Saini nails the stumps. Four down and out of the game?

Sri Lanka 26 for 4

Kusal Survives ... Oshada falls

Full toss and it was quick from Bumrah. Kusal missed the flick and there was an appeal for lbw. He was distracted by it and charged down the track. Oshada had to respond and in the end is run out. Pandey sweeps in from point and breaks the stumps.

Sri Lanka 15 for 3

Two down

Hit for a six the previous ball, Shardul responds with a good one. Caught at cover as Avishka Fernando went for an uppish drive. Sri Lanka dented early in a big chase.

Sri Lanka 11 for 2

Bumrah strikes first over

Short and angling away at some pace from Bumrah. Gunathilaka went for the pull and mistimes it to mid-on. Bumrah becomes the leading wicket-taker for India in T20Is.

Sri Lanka 5 for 1

India 201 for 6

Manish Pandey gives India a late boost to set up a good chase for Sri Lanka. The Shardul-Pandey partnership ends with 37 off 14. Onus on Sri Lankan batsmen now to help the side level the series. It was an innings filled with madness. India were keen to give other batsmen a chance so Samson at 3, Pandey at 5 and Iyer at 5. Kohli, for the second time in his career, came in at No. 6. Sandakan and Hasaranga helped the visitors come back in the game but poor bowling from Malinga, Lahiru Kumara and Mathews hurt the side.

series. The last time the home side played here had lost to Sri Lanka by five wickets with 12 balls remaining. However since that loss its 9-1 in favour of the home side H2H.

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Hello and welcome to the live blog of the third T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Pune. Guwahati was a disappointment, Indore was a cake-walk for India and Pune presents another challenge for the visitors. Will they bounce back? Well, don't get your hopes up just yet.

There could have been no time more suitable to label Sri Lanka 'unpredictable'. A second-string team found new heroes as they blanked world no. 1 ranked Pakistan in their own backyard barely three months ago but since then, Sri Lanka have drawn blanks in Australia and India. After four rather comprehensive T20I defeats on the trot, the team in transition would like a validation in the form of a victory in the Pune decider that'll help them return home with not just a drawn series but also at least a few key pieces to their T20 puzzle.

Sri Lanka's batting problems are elementary and injuries have thrown their bowling combinations out of whack. Their underwhelming batting in some of the most batsmen-friendly conditions in Indore should be alarming for a team that has to take the Qualifiers route to the T20 World Cup that's due in eight months' time. The slow down in the middle overs showed that their batting order and batting plans are both still a work in progress. Luckily, though, they have that Qualifiers road which means more game time and, hence, more opportunities to refine their batting in which Angelo Mathews - back in T20I fold after 16 months - could play a key role.

In their bid to avoid a fifth straight T20I loss - and second successive series defeat - Sri Lanka wouldn't need a bigger motivation than their last outing on this ground when they pinned an MS Dhoni-led India on the mat, wrapping them up for 101 to take early lead in the 2016 series. Moreover, India have lost one T20I in each of their last three home series, and Sri Lanka wouldn't want that run to end with them.