India's winning sequence in T20
internationals came to an embarrassing end tonight after a heavily depleted Sri Lanka pulled off an upset five-wicket victory to take 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Put into bat on a lively track, which had fair amount of bounce and seam movement, India were skittled out for a paltry 101 in 18.5 overs with rookie pace trio of Kasun Rajitha (3/29), Dashun Shanaka (3/16) and Dushmantha Chameera (2/14) doing bulk of the damage.
Sri Lanka reached the target with two overs to spare. Senior players Dinesh Chandimal (35) and Chamara Kapugedara (25) made useful contributions.
It turned out to be a blow for Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the team won 3-0 in the series Down Under to achieve the top rank in ICC table for shortest format.
If Rajitha blew away the top-order, it was Shanaka and Chameera, who decimated the middle and lower-order with only Ravichandran Ashwin with his unbeaten 31 helping home team cross the three-figure.
Such was the abject surrender by the Indian batsmen in the wake of extra bounce and moving deliveries that only Yuvraj Singh (10) and Suresh Raina (20) reached the double figures apart from Ashwin.
When Sri Lanka batted, they lost a few wickets in between but the target was too small to defend as the 39-run stand between skipper Chandimal and Kapugedara turned out to be a clincher. Milinda Siriwardana struck 21 off 14 balls as he finished the match with a flourish hitting Jasprit Bumrah for a six and a boundary.
There was no dearth of effort from the Indian bowlers with Ashish Nehra (2/21 in 3 overs) and Ashwin (2/13 in 3 overs) got a couple of wickets each but it was the failure of the batsmen that hurt India the most.
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He had stayed at the wicket for a total of 539 minutes and also became the first Indian captain to get to the landmark of a double hundred for the second time in his career.
The duo also eclipsed the previous fourth wicket Indian record of 353 by Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman compiled against Australia at Sydney in January, 2004.
Rahane too got out not long afterwards, chasing a wide ball from left arm pace bowler Trent Boult and edging behind after a stay of 514 minutes to miss a golden chance to join the double century makers' list by 12 runs.
It was the classy Mumbai batsman's 8th three-figure knock in his 29th Test. For New Zealand all the bowlers struggled to not only get among the wickets but also stem the flow of runs and in the endeavour Boult (2 for 113) and Patel (2 for 120) emerged as the most successful ones while left arm spinner Santner picked up 1 for 137.
Kohli reached his double century with a single to long leg off Matt Henry who had rapped him on the pads when he was on 194 only for his and teammates' concerted and loud appeal turned down by the umpire.
This was one of the rare occasions that the ball beat the bat during the course of the day's play. It took the Indian captain 347 balls and 516 minutes stay to reach the landmark with the help of 18 hits to the fence.
The well-set fourth-wicket pair stepped on the gas and attacked the New Zealand bowling with gusto from the beginning of the post-lunch session.
Both batsmen looked totally at ease when handling pace of spin on a track that continued to play easy and staved off the Kiwis after having come together at the fall of Cheteshwar Pujara yesterday.
Rahane continued to use his feet beautifully against the rival spin bowlers and danced down the track to smack off spinner Patel over the straight field for two of his four sixes.
Before lunch the Mumbai batsman became the second player from either side to notch up a century after Kohli, who achieved the landmark yesterday.
Commencing the day at 267 for 3, Kohli and Rahane were keen to step up the run-rate and succeeded against the visiting team's attack bowling with the ten-over old second new ball.
Rahane, 21 short of the coveted century landmark, faced a short-ball barrage from Matt Henry before reaching his eighth ton in his 29th Test with a single to long leg off Trent Boult.
He answered back Henry in his own coin, by going on the attack and hooked the fast medium bowler for a four before the next ball, also dug in short, struck him on the side grill of the helmet.
Undaunted, he batted on while Kohli - not out 103 overnight - too took the attack to the opposition by square cutting and straight driving Henry for fours in successive balls.
Rahane proceeded to complete his own century in an unruffled manner as New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson brought on Boult to replace Henry. He reached the landmark in 210 balls and with the help of one six and 11 fours. He thus joined Kohli in the list of centurions in the series, the Indian captain having done it yesterday.
Ashwin ended the day with 2 for 108 in 31 overs and was
taken for runs mainly in his second-last spell of 10 overs.
Jadeja was restrictive at best with figures of 1 for 59 in 21 overs, while Amit Mishra, included as the fifth bowler, did not make much of an impression and went wicket less after bowling 10 overs for 42 runs.
Shami was luckless and went wicket-less too, giving away 31 runs, while Yadav finished the day with 1 for 68 and looked largely wayward.
In the first session, Ashwin accounted for the wickets of Hameed, whose dismissal also brought into play the Decision Review System for the first ever time in a Test match played in this country.
Home town boy Jadeja had earlier given India the first break at 47, successfully earning a shout for leg before wicket against England skipper Cook.
But thereafter India's success came down to a trickle, as they tasted it only in the final session after going without a wicket in the middle session.
India went in with five bowlers, including spinner Mishra for the first time since the second Test against the West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica.
England capped 19-year-old opening batsman Hameed and, like the hosts, also included three -spin bowlers.
