Manish Pandey pick of the series, Kuldeep best wicket-taking option

Dilshan Munaweera was impressive, considering he has played only 10 T20Is and it was his brand of fearless cricket that helped Sri Lanka post a respectable total of 170 on the board in the one-off T20I in Colombo. Ashan Priyanjan's run-a-ball 40 on debut was also impressive. The 28-year-old started off slowly but made up for it towards the end of his innings with a four and a six.

170 was a decent score. That India have been playing exceptional cricket and therefore made this total look a paltry one is a separate discussion. It was a convincing win by the Indians in the end. After the initial setbacks in Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, captain Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey led a superb fightback.

For Sri Lanka, Lasith Malinga looked a lot better than how he did in the ODI series. Perhaps he was putting an extra bit of effort here as there were only four overs to be bowled. The pace too was better given that his yorkers have lost pace over the past couple of years.

As opposed to clocking 135 kph only as far as two years ago, Malinga has been bowling them at approximately 126 kph. This loss of pace is the reason why his yorkers haven't been as deadly as they used to be.

Full credits should be given Manish Pandey who grabbed the opportunity provided to him with both hands. After scoring a fifty in the final ODI, Pandey gave a great helping hand to his captain and helped put up a match-winning partnership. He has claimed the No. 4 spot in the batting line-up, which was a cause of concern hitherto.

India were 40-odd for the loss of two and Pandey, at first, played the perfect support role to Kohli's aggressive innings and took it upon himself to finish the game once the captain was dismissed.

KL Rahul couldn't quite replicate his Test form in the limited-overs leg of the series. In his defence, he is an opening batsman who was asked to bat at No. 4 in the ODIs. When he finally got his chance to open in the one-off T20I, he couldn't convert the start he got into a big score.

The match conditions are different when you come in at 4 as compared to opening the batting, and I think that is where Rahul has failed to adjust. This is why Pandey's innings was vital because he's taken to the slot in the middle order and has put his hand up where Rahul has failed to cash in.

Jasprit Bumrah picked up 15 wickets in the five-match ODI series

Jadhav - the all-rounder?

Kedar Jadhav's all-round performances have been crucial for India. Barring the final ODI, he couldn't contribute much with the bat in the four games that he played in the 50-over series. However, it is his role with the ball that was become, if I dare say, equally crucial. India, of late, have been playing with four bowlers and one all-rounder.

In such a scenario, Jadhav serves well as the sixth bowler and gets you those vital breakthroughs. He varies his action and release points to bring in the much-needed variations in limited-overs cricket.

From the bowlers who featured in the Test series, very few played the ODI and T20I series, and yet, the highest innings total that Sri Lanka could manage was 238. It not only speaks of the bench strength that India have but it also emphasizes on how good those coming into the side are, in the absence of the seniors.

Here's a stat to put things in perspective. In the last three years, only two fast bowlers have picked five-wicket hauls in ODIs and both of those performances came this ODI series -- Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, in the fifth and fourth ODIs, respectively.

That these came in the subcontinent, where the conditions aren't favourable for fast bowlers just adds to the merit. Moreover, Bumrah was adjudged man of the series in the ODIs, which for a side heavily reliant on batting and in the era of batting-friendly pitches is an exceptional achievement. He also picked up a world-record 15 wickets in a five-match ODI series.

Bhuvneshwar had had a barren series until the fifth game wherein he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul thereby proving that he wasn't out of touch. Amongst the spinners, Axar Patel kept it tight in the middle overs. Yuzvendra Chahal had a mixed bag; he picked up wickets, yes, but went for runs as well.

But that had got more to do with the kind of roles assigned to them -- one given the responsibility to keep things tight and the other asked to go for wickets. Kuldeep Yadav was also given opportunities that he made full use of. I think Kuldeep was the spinner who troubled the Sri Lankans the most; they just couldn't read him off the pitch or off his wrists.

Perhaps that was because there are only so many wrist spinners in world cricket and one generally doesn't get much practice against them. So he has come out as a wicket-taking option for Kohli.