Having comprehensively won the Test and ODI series 3-0 and 5-0 respectively, the tourists headed to Colombo aiming to sweep the board.
And, after being set a target of 171, Kohli raced to 82 off 54 balls, including seven fours and one six, with Manish Pandey’s handy 51 also helping India to their target with four balls to spare.
Earlier, Dilshan Munaweera – who struggled for form in the ODIs – smacked 53 to help Sri Lanka reach 170-7 in an innings that could have produced anything between 140 and 200, but it was not enough to earn a consolation win.
After rain caused a lengthy start to proceedings, Sri Lanka lost Upul Tharanga (5) and Niroshan Dickweller (17) early after being put into bat.
Munaweera went on the counter, going after Yuzvendra Chahal with a couple of huge sixes before swiping Axar Patel over the ropes for three fours in the sixth over.
Ashan Priyanjan’s run-a-ball 40 also helped to lift the hosts, but when Munaweera was bowled by Kuldeep Yadav having hit five fours and four sixes there were few other notable contributions – although Isuru Udana added a quick 19 off 10.
With a challenging, but certainly gettable, total to chase, India lost Rohit Sharma (9) and Lokesh Rahul (24) inside six overs.
After seeing off a few early tests, Kohli quickly found his range and smacked Seekkuge Prasanna for six, before he and Pandey gave Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews the treatment to accelerate the innings.
Umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge then showed expert reflexes to duck a venomous straight Kohli strike that travelled for four.
The skipper failed to see it out after hitting a slower ball from Udana to Dasun Shanaka at deep midwicket, but it only delayed the inevitable as India celebrated a 9-0 triumph across all formats.
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