SL Vs SA 2021: South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the third T20I
The third T20I between Sri Lanka and South Africa was played on Tuesday at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo. Having lost the first two T20Is in the series, the hosts played the third T20I for pride.
Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bat first. The South African spinners set the tone in the first four overs and picked up 3 wickets. Kagiso Rabada accounted for Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa. Dhananjaya de Silva was dismissed by Bjorn Fortuin.
Kamindu Mendis added 34 runs with Kusal Perera before the former was dismissed for 10 by Aiden Markram.
Kusal Perera continued to anchor the innings but was trapped by maharaj' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>maharaj" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Keshav Maharaj leg before wicket when he was on 39. The Sri Lankans lost half of their side when they scored just 80 runs in 13 overs.
Only 40 runs were scored by the hosts in the last seven overs and they lost three more wickets. Sri Lanka finished their innings with a moderate score of 120 for the loss of 8 wickets. Chamika Karunaratne played a handy unbeaten knock of 24 from 19 deliveries that included two sixes.
Fortuin and Rabada picked up two wickets apiece and Markram, Maharaj and Mulder picked up one wicket each.
South African openers lead the team to a remarkable victory
South Africa chased down the total of 121 with 32 balls to spare. The openers, Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock, were aggressive from the word go.
Hendricks scored 56 runs from 42 balls that included five boundaries and a six. De Kock scored a brilliant 59 from 46 balls that included 46 balls. The duo were unbeaten during the chase.
The Sri Lankan bowlers tried all the tricks in the book to dismiss the South African openers but they failed to do so.
The Proteas won the third T20I by 10 wickets and emerged victorious in the three-match T20I series by a margin of 3-0.