SL VS AFG - 3rd ODI, Afghanistan tour of Sri Lanka, 2024

Without Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Afghanistan's bowling lacked sting and were outclassed in all the three matches. They did have some positives though and will look to put up a better performance in the upcoming T20Is in Dambulla. We'll be back for all those games, starting from the 17th. For now, cheers and bye..

Kusal Mendis, the winning captain spoke in Sinhalese. He was pleased with the way his team played, happy with the batting and thanked everyone who played a role in this series win (loosely translated). He then went to collect the winning trophy. They then pose for the photographers with a champions board hanging proudly in front of them.

Hashmatullah Shahidi - The result didn't go our way, but Sri Lanka played better in all three departments of the game. We struggled in the last 10 overs of our batting and didn't get the runs required. The bowling was also pretty poor, we're missing our main bowlers though, hopefully, they'll come back fit. Our batting could have been better, both Rashid and Mujeeb are wicket-taking bowlers and we missed them. I wish the T20I team the best, hopefully, we'll come back better. 

Pathum Nissanka | Player of the Match | Player of the Series

21:17 Local Time, 15:47 GMT, 21:17 IST: A clinical chase from the Sri Lankans as they complete a clean-sweep over Afghanistan in this 3-match ODI series. The surface was good and in what's been a high-scoring series, 266 was always going to be extremely difficult to defend. As it turned out, it was but a cakewalk for Sri Lanka as they chased it down with a little under 15 overs and 7 wickets to spare. The highlight was another superb opening stand that was worth 173. There was no respite for the Afghan bowlers as they were attacked from both ends. Avishka Fernando played really well but missed out on a century as he fell for 91. His partner Nissanka though made no such mistake as he added a century to the glorious double-hundred he scored in the 1st ODI. Kusal Mendis came out looking to get the job done and played some eye-catching shots while making a 29-ball 40. The job was all but done when a couple of wickets fell and it was just a minor blip in what otherwise was a flawless chase.

Nabi to Samarawickrama, FOUR, that'll get the job done! Tossed up full on off-stump, Samarawickrama skips down the track and whips it away towards the deep mid-wicket ropes

Nabi to Asalanka, 1 run, length delivery on off-stump, Asalanka presses back to defend and gets a thick outside edge that goes towards short third man

Qais Ahmad to Asalanka, 1 run, full on middle, nurdled towards square leg

Qais Ahmad to Asalanka, no run, flatter delivery on middle, pulled towards mid-wicket

Qais Ahmad to Asalanka, no run, flatter delivery outside off, Asalanka lets it go

Qais Ahmad to Samarawickrama, 1 run, tossed up very full on middle, worked away towards mid-wicket

Qais Ahmad to Asalanka, 1 run, very full on middle, pushed down the ground to long on

Qais Ahmad to Samarawickrama, 1 run, full on middle, worked away towards mid-wicket

Nabi to Asalanka, no run, full on middle, blocked

Nabi to Samarawickrama, 1 run, full on leg-stump, worked towards backward square leg for another quick single

Nabi to Asalanka, 1 run, flatter delivery on middle, nurdled towards mid-wicket for a quick single

Nabi to Asalanka, no run, full on off-stump, defended straight back to the bowler again

Nabi to Asalanka, no run, full on off-stump, defended straight back to the bowler

Nabi to Asalanka, 2 runs, flatter delivery outside off, Asalanka presses right back and opens the face to cut this fine past backward point, fielder gives it chase and does well to reel it in

Two slips in place