Kusal Mendis’ unbeaten 87 guides Sri Lanka to consolation win

In the third and final T20I in Rawalpindi, Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by eight wickets to avoid a whitewash after the hosts had already won the series in the first two games with an unbeaten 87 off 48 balls. Pakistan were held to 168 for 8 thanks to Dasun Shanaka's 3 for 21, and Kusal Mendis and Kamindu Mendis (40 not out) completed the chase with 17 balls remaining. Sahibzada Farhan, the captain of Pakistan, scored 76, his third fifty in a row, and was named Player of the Series as Pakistan won the series 2-1.

Sent in to bat, Pakistan raced to 34 without loss in three overs before Eshan Malinga turned the innings with a double-wicket maiden. After removing Maaz Sadaqat for a duck three balls later, he had Fakhar Zaman caught at cover off his first ball. Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, who was playing his first game of the series, and Shanaka worked together to take control of the middle overs, but Farhan kept the scoreboard moving.

Kamindu took a sharp catch at long-on to send back Hasan Nawaz off Viyaskanth’s googly, and Shanaka's slower balls then accounted for Khawaja Nafay, Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Abdul Samad in back to back overs as Pakistan slipped to 102 for 6 in the 14th over.

The innings was saved by Arafat Minhas at No. with an unbeaten 34 off 20 balls. 8. He and Farhan added 66 runs off 37 balls in the 17th, 18th, and 19th overs, scoring 48 runs each. In the final over, Nuwan Thushara brought things back under control, giving up only five runs and throwing out Farhan, who was caught by Shanaka at cover, and Razaullah with a yorker.

Sineth Jayawardena got Sri Lanka's chase going with 14 off the first over. In the second, Randhawa caught Lahiru Udara lbw, but Jayawardena (38 off 26 balls) and Kusal added 59 off 41 before Minhas caught Jayawardena long-on in the eighth over. With dew making batting easier, Kusal reached his fifty off 33 balls and was dropped on 64 by Sufyan Moqim off his own bowling. He and Kamindu shared an unbeaten 98 off 55 balls, taking 18 off a Razaullah over and 15 off Salman Mirza's to help Sri Lanka towards an easy victory after two heavy defeats.