All-rounder Angelo Mathews starred with a quickfire 42 and two wickets as Sri Lanka secured the three match T20 sequence towards Afghanistan with a 72-run win on Monday.
Sri Lanka wrapped up the sequence with a recreation to spare in entrance of a capability crowd at Dambulla on Monday.
“It’s all concerning the thoughts,” Afghanistan’s skipper Ibrahim Zadran mentioned after the match. “If you don’t execute your plans, you can’t win.”
Former skipper Mathews was uncertain for the sport within the afternoon with tightness within the hamstring, however the 36-year-old smashed an unbeaten 42 off 22 balls with 4 sixes and two fours. He was notably harsh on Azmatullah Omarzai, hitting him for 3 consecutive sixes within the penultimate over.
“Regardless of the staff desires me to do, I’m prepared to adapt myself based on the state of affairs,” Mathews mentioned. His massive hitting gave a lot wanted momentum, and Sri Lanka completed on 187 for six in 20 overs, with 34 runs coming within the final two overs.
Mathews was concerned in a 66-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Sadeera Samarawickrama, who posted the one half-century within the recreation.
Samarawickrama’s 51, which got here in 42 balls with 5 fours, is his career-best rating on this format.
“Credit score goes to the batters,” captain Wanindu Hasaranga mentioned. “They batted very well,” he added, giving credit score to Mathews and Samarawickrama who “completed properly to get to a giant rating”.
Mathews then took the brand new ball and dismissed the openers in his first two overs to place the Afghans on the again foot.
After Maheesh Theekshana trapped Rahmanullah Gurbaz leg earlier than wicket, Binura Fernando claimed two wickets in an over to scale back Afghanistan to 31 for 5 inside 5 overs.
With half the aspect down even earlier than Matheesha Pathirana was launched to the assault — Man of the Match within the earlier recreation — Afghanistan was in serious trouble.
Mohammad Nabi tried to salvage some delight, making 27 off 17 balls and including 39 runs for the sixth wicket with Karim Janat, earlier than Dasun Shanaka in his first over produced the breakthrough.
Karim Janat’s 28 runs in 23 balls was the Afghan’s high rating, and Afghanistan was bowled out for 115 in 17 overs.
One of many highlights of the sport was Hasaranga accounting for his a hundredth wicket in T20 internationals, when he cleaned up Najibullah Zadran. He grew to become the second-quickest bowler to the 100-wicket milestone, having bought there in 63 video games. Solely Lasith Malinga has taken 100 wickets in T-20 Internationals for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka emerged victorious in all three codecs within the sequence because it had gained the one-off Take a look at earlier than sweeping the ODI sequence 3-0.