Athapaththu, Kavindi star as Sri Lanka clinch T20I series

Sri Lanka put on a convincing performance, defeating Pakistan for the fourth time in a row in the ongoing white-ball series. This allowed them to win the T20I leg of the series as well, having previously won the ODI series. In a pattern similar to the opening T20I, Pakistan once again posted a formidable total, which Sri Lanka chased down with considerable ease, winning by six wickets and with 14 balls to spare. Pakistan got off to a rollicking start after opting to bat. The openers once again delivered as they went on a boundary-hitting spree in the Powerplay, with the highlight being the third over in which Shawaal Zulfiqar smashed five boundaries. Pakistan reached 63/0 in just five overs from that start. Four relatively quiet overs followed, paving the way for Muneeba Ali's dismissal at the halfwaypoint. Pakistan would have hoped for a total close to 200 after that start but the home side managed to pull things back in the second half. Chamodi Praboda struck again to remove the other set opener as well before the rest chipped in. Eyman Fatima gave Pakistan the final flourish with an unbeaten 30 but Pakistan still managed to post only 175 on the board, a total that was easily at least 15 short after that start. The visitors still got off to a good start when they got rid of the centurion from the previous game, Imesha Dulani, early in the second over. However, Sanjana Kavindi and Chamari Athapaththu made certain that Sri Lanka made full use of the Powerplay. Athapaththu, in particular, was very severe as she went on a rampage in the third and the fourth over of the innings to race to 40 off just 14 balls. With Sri Lanka knocking off 51 runs in just four overs, the writing appeared to be on the wall already for Pakistan. Even after Athapaththu was fired, Kavindi took over and dealt with boundaries, so there was no respite. The game completely swung in favour of Sri Lanka when Kavindi hammered Nashra Sandhu for successive sixes around the halfway mark. Even her dismissal in the following over didn't make a difference as Harshitha Samarawickrama came out all guns blazing and raced to 24 off just 11 balls to keep Sri Lanka on course. Vishmi Gunaratne's dismissal couldn't prevent the inevitable as the dominant Sri Lankan outfit put Pakistan out of their misery in the 18th over.