Sri Lanka crush Afghanistan and clean sweep ODI series 3-0

Sri Lanka’s Avishka Fernando and Pathum Nissanka shared an opening stand of 173

Pramod Madushan was the pick of Sri Lankan bowlers with three wickets

Pathum Nissanka celebrates his second century of the series

Rahmat Shah top scored for Afghanistan with 65 

• Pathum Nissanka plays stellar role to take Player of the Series award

In what was supposed to be a closely fought series turned out to be brutally one-sided affair as Sri Lanka crushed Afghanistan by seven wickets with as many as 88 balls to spare to win the third and final ODI played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and with it make a clean sweep of the three-match series 3-0.

The last time Sri Lanka made a clean sweep of a 3-match ODI series was against West Indies at home in 2020 under Dimuth Karunaratne.

On a batting surface although on the slow side, Afghanistan’s total of 266 was going to be extremely difficult to defend. It was more than a cakewalk for Sri Lanka as they chased it down with ease scoring 267-3. The highlight was another marvellous opening partnership that was worth 173 off 138 balls between Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando. There was no respite for the Afghanistan bowlers as they were attacked from both ends with Fernando playing really well for his 91 off 66 balls (10 fours, 5 sixes) and for the second time in the series missing out on a century.

His partner Nissanka made no such error. He went on to add a century to the glorious double hundred he scored in the first ODI driving and swiping his way to an effortless 118 off 101 balls (16 fours, 2 sixes). On his way to three-figures he broke several batting records.

Nissanka who took the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards became the fastest Sri Lankan to reach 2000 ODI runs playing in his 52nd innings. The previous record was held by Upul Tharanga, the present chairman of selectors who reached the mark in 63 innings.

By taking his series aggregate to 346 (avg. 173) from 3 matches, Nissanka surpassed Roshan Mahanama’s tally of 267 (avg. 133.50) for the most runs in a 3-match ODI series by a Sri Lankan.

Nissanka was in line to break the world record for the most runs in a 3-match ODI series but fell short by 17 runs when he was dismissed for 118. The world record of 360 runs is shared by Shubman Gill of India and Babar Azam of Pakistan. Nissanka’s aggregate will rank as the fourth highest after Gill, Babar and Imrul Kayes of Bangladesh (349).

Following Avishka Fernando’s dismissal skipper Kusal Mendis came out looking to get the job done and played some eye-catching strokes making 40 off 29 balls inclusive of four sixes but was out when 16 was needed. Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka took Sri Lanka home in what could be described as a flawless chase.

As for Afghanistan without Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman their bowling lacked sting and were outclassed in all three matches.

They had plenty of good starts, but were eventually restricted to 266 without batting their full quota of overs. Rahmat Shah was the top-scorer with 65 off 77 balls (7 fours, 1 six), with Azmatullah Omarzai hitting 54 off 59 balls (4 fours). Rahmatullah Gurbaz fell for 48, and Ikram Alikhil made 32.

Sri Lanka didn’t start off well with the ball but they fought back superbly thanks to some tight spells by the spinners Dunith Wellalage and Akila Dananjaya who replaced the two main spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana who were both rested.

Sri Lanka hit back in the death overs to grab six wickets for 43 with Pramod Madushan picking up three late wickets to bring the Afghanistan innings to a premature end finishing with 3/45. Comeback players Wellalage and Dananjaya combined to take 4/92 off 20 overs as Afghanistan cracked under pressure once again having lost eight wickets for 10 runs in the second ODI.

The two sides will play a three-match T20I series in Dambulla commencing Saturday.