Shreyas Iyer was breathing down Suryakumar Yadav's neck as India cruised to a six-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the third and final T20 International here on Sunday. The Indian team's last three T20 home series, against New Zealand, the West Indies, and now Sri Lanka, have all concluded 3-0. After Avesh Khan and Mohammed Siraj had a terrific run in the powerplay overs, Shreyas hammered 73 not out off 45 balls to complete the chase in 16.5 overs, chasing a target of 147.

Shreyas, whose short-ball skills had previously been questioned, had a rubber to remember, scoring a hat-trick of half-centuries for a total of 200 runs, earning him the Player-of-the-Series Award.

Suryakumar, who was the Player of the Series against the West Indies before suffering a hairline fracture in his right hand, and Shreyas are battling for one elusive middle-order spot.

Shreyas' command of the pull shots, which he had been forced to drill for hours in the nets, was evident not only in the third match but throughout the series.

He's getting in line to keep the pulls down, and he's giving skipper Rohit Sharma a happy headache. Sharma now has 125 T20 International caps, one more than Pakistan's ageless marvel, Shoaib Malik.

India made four changes to their playing XI, including the withdrawal of Ishan Kishan due to concussion. They were able to come up with trumps without breaking a sweat.

Avesh made up for a shaky debut with a blistering opening spell in which he and Mohammed Siraj put the Sri Lankans on the back foot right away, making full use of the Dharamsala track's pace and bounce.

Ravi Bishnoi (4-0-32-1) and Kuldeep Yadav (4-0-25-0), the two wrist spinners, performed well enough to keep the islanders warm on a cool night.

Bishnoi has been bowling googlies with such accuracy for the past two years that hitters in the IPL and now international cricket have yet to get a handle on him.

With a 74 not out off 38 balls, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka once again saved the day, bringing his team near to the 150-run threshold. Shanaka smashed nine fours and two sixes in his innings.

The Lankan top-order was shredded by Avesh and Siraj , who bowled with pace and bounce to reduce them to 11 for 3 in the fourth over, and there was no way back.

Siraj got things started by rushing Danushka Gunathilaka  with a short ball that he attempted to pull but only managed to drag back to the stumps.

Avesh, who bowled a fuller version of his back-of-length stuff on debut at Eden Gardens, sent back Pathum Nissanka (1) and Charith Asalanka (4), both deliveries striking the bat faster than they could fathom.

The finest part of India's performance was that vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and first-choice wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal all got some much-needed rest.

The captain has a lot of alternatives since he and coach Rahul Dravid are steadily putting together a set-up in which they have several possibilities for every position in both departments.

The absence of a good off-spinner is the sole weakness in the T20 squad, as the Indian team management is unlikely to return to Ravichandran Ashwin for the T20 World Cup in Australia.

Aside from that, the team appears to be in fantastic shape. Consider the fact that Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul are not participating in this series.

Suryakumar, Deepak Chahar, and now Ishan Kishan have all been injured, and Shardul Thakur has been resting.

Nonetheless, Test specialists like Siraj, the fiery Avesh, and the dedicated Harshal Patel are all building claims for selection for the main event in eight months.

Even if there are injuries or a loss of form, Rohit will not be limited in his options.