AFG VS PAK - 3rd ODI, Afghanistan v Pakistan in Sri Lanka, 2023

Azam collects the trophy with a bright smile on his face. HE joins his team-mates who pose along with the WINNERS hoarding. Pakistan are now the top-ranked side in ODIs. That's all from the coverage of this 3-match ODI series folks! Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did covering it for you all. You can switch tabs and follow our live coverage of other ongoing matches for now. Ciao!

Babar Azam | Pakistan captain: We are number one in ODIs. All credit to the boys, they are working hard. We had a small camp in Lahore. All credit to the boys and the management. One of the best spin sides - Afghanistan. That should help us in Asia Cup. The conditions weren't easy while batting first. Rizwan and I tried to build a partnership and take it deep. We have a good bunch of players. We tried different combinations. In a couple of days we have our first Asia Cup match. Saud is selected for Asia Cup. He's a very good player of spin.

Hashmatullah Shahidi | Afghanistan captain: The pitch was different today. We did the mistakes again with the batting. We'll work on that. Lot of learnings from this series. We know we'll face same type of teams in the Asia Cup and World Cup. Our batting wasn't up to the mark and we were poor in the field as well. Afghanistan's spin bowling is always good. I am very satisfied with them. Our openers are doing good, our middle-order needs to take some responsibility. We'll try to work on that. We had three injuries this series, that's a part we missed.

Imam-ul-Haq | Player of the Series: It's just a process. It's difficult in these conditions especially against their spinners. Rotation of strike was very important. The management planned that and it worked. I have listened to my chachu as well. You should move your back leg against spinners. It's working and I am happy. (On his fielding) I want to thank all the team management, fielding staff, we have been working hard. Fielding is very important and we are working hard. (On being the Player of the Series) It gives you confidence, will take the all the positives and try to improve.

Mohammad Rizwan | Player of the Match: The conditions were tough. We came to know that it's a 240-pitch. After losing our openers, we assessed the pitch and decided to take it deep. Imam played the LPL here and he gave us the inputs. (Batting in the middle-order) It's a bit difficult. Some times you play against the new ball, sometimes the ball grips and some times you need to accelerate.

Coming into the third ODI, Pakistan had the series in their pocket and Babar elected to bat first after winning the toss in the dead rubber. The Pakistan openers failed to get going, however, Babar and Rizwan played pivotal knocks where the two veterans notched up their respective fifties and laid the foundation for the batters who followed next. Pakistan's middle-order batters couldn't get going, however, Agha Salman and Mohammad Nawaz chipped in with useful cameos and helped their team post a 260-plus total. In reply, Afghanistan's batters could never get going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals throughout the run chase. A few batters played some handy knocks, but none were good enough for Afghanistan to get them anywhere close to the target. Mujeeb played an entertaining knock towards the end, but it was never going to be enough. All in all, a complete performance by Pakistan as they have managed to win the series by a 3-0 margin!

Pakistan - 3 | Afghanistan - 0. Apart from the second game, there wasn't much contest in this 3-match ODI series, to be honest. Afghanistan bowled out Pakistan for a mediocre total of 201 in the first ODI, but Haris Rauf's breathtaking spell where he claimed five wickets, helped Pakistan take a 1-0 lead in the series. The Afghanistan openers had a prolific partnership for the opening wicket in the second ODI and helped them post a challenging total of 300/5, however, Imam and Babar had a match-defining stand of 118 and kept Pakistan alive in that run chase. Shadab Khan played a superb knock of 48(35) thereafter and Naseem Shah gave the finishing touch as Pakistan took an unbelievable and an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series.

Shaheen Afridi to Fareed Ahmad, out Bowled!! That's the game! The result was quite obvious once Pakistan had set such a daunting target. Afghanistan lose by a huge margin of 59 runs, and the series goes to Pakistan, who have been clinical right throughout. A full toss by Shaheen Afridi and Fareed Ahmad gets beaten as he looks to play the scoop. The stumps have been rattled and Pakistan have whitewashed Afghanistan in Sri Lanka. Fareed Ahmad b Shaheen Afridi 17(29) [4s-1]

Shaheen Afridi to Fareed Ahmad, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Shaheen Afridi to Fareed Ahmad, no run, looks to go big, slogs this length ball to deep mid-wicket and Nawaz stationed near the boundary puts in down!

Shaheen Afridi to Fareed Ahmad, no run, full and wide outside off, Fareed Ahmad swings and misses

Shaheen Afridi to Fareed Ahmad, no run, walks across in the crease to play the scoop, gets beaten all ends up

Shaheen Afridi [9.0-0-31-1] is back into the attack

Nawaz to Fazalhaq Farooqi, FOUR, tossed up delivery on middle and leg, Fazalhaq Farooqi lofts this towards long-on for four runs

Nawaz to Fazalhaq Farooqi, 2 runs, on a length around off, Fazalhaq Farooqi swings and gets a top edge to wide long-off for a couple of runs

Nawaz to Fazalhaq Farooqi, no run, on a length around off, Fazalhaq Farooqi defends

Nawaz to Fazalhaq Farooqi, no run, nudged to the leg-side by Farooqi

Nawaz to Fazalhaq Farooqi, no run, slower delivery outside off, Fazalhaq Farooqi shoulders arms

Nawaz to Fareed Ahmad, 1 run, lofted to long-on for a single by Fareed Ahmad

Mohammad Nawaz [8.0-0-38-2] is back into the attack