Hambantota: Half-centuries from captain Chamari Athapaththu, Harshitha Samarawickrama and Hasini Perera powered Sri Lanka to a commanding eight-wicket victory over Pakistan in the third and final ODI in Hambantota on Tuesday, sealing the three-match series 2-1 ahead of the T20I leg starting on Tuesday.
Having dismissed Pakistan for 187, Sri Lanka completed the chase with two wickets lost, Samarawickrama finishing on 71 not out and Hasini Perera also finishing on 50, after the third-wicket partnership of 106 runs had gone on without interruption.
Sri Lanka began well before Vishmi Gunaratne, who had scored a century in the second ODI, was out for 12 after having accumulated 46 runs with Athapaththu on the opening wicket. The Sri Lankan captain then formed a 39-run partnership with Samarawickrama off 48 balls and reached her 20th ODI half-century before being dismissed for a fluent 52 off 38 balls.
Since the required run rate had been firmly brought under control, Samarawickrama and Hasini managed to avoid any further problems. Hasini reached her fifty during the penultimate over, and Samarawickrama then scored the winning run through extra cover, finishing the chase in style. As Samarawickrama had scored 173 runs in the series, including a century that won the match in the second ODI, he was awarded Player of the Series, while Athapaththu received the Player of the Match award for her all-round performance.
Earlier, captain Fatima Sana defended 41 of the 49 deliveries alone but was the final batter to be dismissed after being run out by Kavisha Dilhari at long-on. Dilhari took three wickets, equaling the figures of Athapaththu and Vimukthi, as Sri Lanka managed to get Pakistan out for 187. Agencies
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