Nidahas Trophy 2018, Sri Lanka vs India 4th T20I: 5 things that went right for India

The fickle nature of the T20 format gives critics ample reasons to point fingers at players for their 'lack of form'. The Indian team, after having blanked out South Africa in ODIs and having come up trumps in the T20Is that followed, were at the receiving end of a backlash after losing out to the hosts in the opening game of the tri-series, but steadied themselves quickly and extracted sweet revenge in the fourth game, completing a comprehensive victory to top the table.

Here are five things that went right for the Indians in the game:

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#5 Shardul Thakur's stifling spell

Thakur won the Man of the Match award for his superb spell

Although Shardul Thakur's resume is wafer-thin when it comes to actual international appearances, he has been linked with the national side and has studied the bowling from close quarters, apart from his IPL experience, over the last two years.

Now given a more prominent role due to the absence of bowling bigwigs, Thakur rose to the occasion by taking the steam out of the Lankan innings with Man of the Match figures of 4-27.

He used the knuckleball to stunning effect, mixing it well with his usual arsenal of cutters and slower balls as the Indians made regular incisions on the Lankan batting. The Thakur effort helped neutralise an off-day for Jaydev Unadkat, who was looted for 33 runs off 3 overs for the return of a solitary wicket.

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