Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by eight wickets, Kusal Mendis hits unbeaten 87

Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by eight wickets in the third and final T20I in Rawalpindi, with Kusal Mendis’ unbeaten 87 helping them avoid a series whitewash.

Pakistan had already won the first two games and sealed the series, which ended 2-1 in their favour.

The victory gave Sri Lanka a strong finish after two heavy defeats and was driven by a controlled chase completed with 17 balls to spare.

Shanaka leads Pakistan’s collapse

Pakistan made 168 for 8 after being sent in to bat, with captain Sahibzada Farhan scoring 76 and Arafat Minhas adding an unbeaten 34.

Dasun Shanaka was Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler, taking 3 for 21 as Pakistan lost wickets after a fast start.

Pakistan raced to 34 without loss in three overs before Eshan Malinga changed the course of the innings with a double-wicket maiden.

Malinga removed Fakhar Zaman, who was caught at cover off the first ball of the over.

Three balls later, he dismissed Maaz Sadaqat for a duck, leaving Pakistan under pressure after its brisk opening passage.

Farhan continued to keep the scoreboard moving, but Sri Lanka gradually took control of the middle overs through the combined efforts of Vijayakanth Viyaskanth and Shanaka.

Viyaskanth was playing his first game of the series when his googly produced the wicket of Hasan Nawaz.

Kamindu Mendis completed a sharp catch at long-on to dismiss Hasan Nawaz.

Shanaka then used slower balls effectively, dismissing Khawaja Nafay, Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Abdul Samad in back-to-back overs.

Pakistan slipped to 102 for 6 in the 14th over, leaving its lower order with the task of rebuilding the innings.

Minhas and Farhan restore momentum

Arafat Minhas provided Pakistan with the recovery it needed from No. 8, striking an unbeaten 34 off 20 balls.

He added 66 off 37 balls with Farhan, with the pair taking 48 runs from the 17th, 18th and 19th overs.

That late partnership transformed Pakistan’s position after the side had lost six wickets for 102 runs.

Nuwan Thushara limited the damage in the final over by conceding only five runs.

He also dismissed Farhan, who was caught by Shanaka at cover, and Razaullah, who was bowled by a yorker.

Farhan’s 76 was his third successive fifty, and his performance across the series earned him the Player of the Series award.

Pakistan finished on 168 for 8 in 20 overs, a total that left Sri Lanka needing 169 to win the match.

Sri Lanka’s chase begins steadily

Sineth Jayawardena gave Sri Lanka an immediate start by scoring 14 runs from the first over.

Mohammad Imran Randhawa dismissed Lahiru Udara leg before wicket in the second over.

Jayawardena then put together a productive stand with Kusal Mendis, as the pair added 59 off 41 balls.

Jayawardena scored 38 off 26 balls before Arafat Minhas had him caught at long-on in the eighth over.

His dismissal brought Kamindu Mendis into the partnership that eventually carried Sri Lanka to victory.

Kusal reached his fifty from 33 balls as Sri Lanka maintained the chase despite losing Jayawardena.

He was also dropped on 64 by Sufyan Moqim off Moqim’s own bowling.

With dew making batting easier, Kusal and Kamindu took advantage of the conditions and kept the required rate under control.

The two Mendis batters shared an unbeaten 98 off 55 balls.

They attacked the Pakistan bowlers late in the innings, taking 18 runs from a Razaullah over and 15 from an over by Salman Mirza.

Sri Lanka reached 172 for 2 in 17.1 overs, with Kusal unbeaten on 87 and Kamindu unbeaten on 40.

Kusal Mendis finishes the job

Kusal’s 87 came from 48 balls and formed the centrepiece of Sri Lanka’s successful chase.

His unbeaten innings ensured that Sri Lanka did not merely remain in the contest but completed the pursuit with time to spare.

Kamindu supported him with an unbeaten 40, and their unbroken stand of 98 closed out the match after the early loss of Udara and the later dismissal of Jayawardena.

The chase was also helped by the batting conditions, with dew making it easier to score as the innings progressed.

Sri Lanka’s finish contrasted sharply with its performance in the second T20I, when Pakistan had won by 82 runs.

That earlier match had seen Pakistan post 215 for 3 before restricting Sri Lanka to 133 for 7.

Pakistan’s earlier dominance

In the second T20I, Maaz Sadaqat struck 96 off 51 balls and Farhan scored 73 off 44 as Pakistan produced 215 for 3.

Pakistan scored 156 runs in the last 12 overs of that innings, with a 73-run partnership between Sadaqat and Farhan followed by a 72-run stand between Sadaqat and Hasan Nawaz.

Sadaqat had begun cautiously, scoring at less than a run a ball in his first eight balls before opening up against Eshan Malinga.

He struck a lofted square drive for his first six and later hit the same bowler down the ground.

Sadaqat went on to hit six more sixes and five more fours, with his sixes generally coming down the ground and his fours placed more squarely of the wicket.

Of Pakistan’s 125 runs in the second half of the innings, Sadaqat scored 79 from 40 balls.

He attacked both pace and spin and hit three sixes in the arc between long-on and midwicket in the 16th over, bowled by Maheesh Theekshana.

Sadaqat had a chance to reach three figures from the final ball but was caught at deep cover after failing to lift a slower delivery from Malinga over the boundary.

Farhan also played a major role in Pakistan’s total, hitting his first six off a slog sweep against Theekshana in the seventh over.

He then struck the same bowler for sixes over wide long-on and cow corner from successive balls in the ninth over.

Farhan reached his 12th T20I fifty from the 31st ball he faced before being caught at deep third off Shanaka in the 15th over.

Sri Lanka struggled in the second T20I

Sri Lanka’s reply in that match never developed momentum after Salman Mirza removed Lahiru Udara for five in the first over.

Mirza’s bouncer took the glove of Udara, who had been described as one of Sri Lanka’s few batters in form.

Jayawardena struck three consecutive boundaries in the third over, but Sri Lanka reached only 35 for 2 by the end of the powerplay.

By the 11th over, Sri Lanka had fallen to 64 for 5, with none of its top seven reaching 30.

Mohammad Imran finished with the best figures of that match, taking 3 for 11 from four overs.

He dismissed Jayawardena after the batter top-edged a desperate pull shot, then removed Kusal Mendis behind the stumps with a slower delivery.

Two balls later, with a wide in between, Imran took Sahan Arachchige’s edge with a quick delivery angled across the left-hander.

Khawaja Nafay completed two diving catches in the eighth over to convert those chances.

Sri Lanka’s batters struggled to hit Imran off the square despite the favourable batting conditions, while the bowler varied his pace and maintained control of his line and length.

By the time Imran completed his unbroken spell at the end of the 10th over, Sri Lanka’s required rate had risen beyond 15.

Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Theekshana hit some late boundaries, but Sri Lanka had already lost a realistic chance of levelling the series.

The 82-run defeat left Pakistan in control before Sri Lanka responded in the final T20I.

A win without a series reversal

Sri Lanka’s eight-wicket victory could not change the series result, but it prevented Pakistan from completing a whitewash.

Pakistan finished the series as the 2-1 winner after taking the opening two matches.

Farhan’s three consecutive fifties and Player of the Series award underlined his contribution to Pakistan’s campaign.

For Sri Lanka, Shanaka’s 3 for 21 restricted Pakistan to a manageable total, while Kusal and Kamindu ensured that the chase did not become another collapse.

The final scoreline captured the difference between the two innings: Pakistan made 168 for 8, while Sri Lanka reached 172 for 2 in 17.1 overs.

Kusal’s unbeaten 87 was the decisive performance in a match Sri Lanka needed to win to finish the series with a result in its favour.