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The third and final ODI between hosts Sri Lanka and South Africa was played on Tuesday at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The hosts won the toss and decided to bat first on a challenging batting wicket.
The South African spinners were spot on from the word go and troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen throughout their innings. Sri Lanka could just manage to score 203 for the loss of 9 wickets in 50 overs.
The South African spinners did the bulk of the bowling. In the 40 overs between them, they picked up 8 wickets and conceded just 142 runs. Skipper Keshav Maharaj was the pick of the bowlers and he had 3 wickets to his name in 10 overs. George Linde and Shamsi picked up 2 wickets apiece and Markram picked up a solitary wicket.
As far as the Sri Lankan batting is concerned, apart from Dhananjaya de Silva and Asalanka, no batsman could cross the 30-run mark. Asalanka was the top run-scorer for Sri Lanka. He scored 47 runs from 71 balls. The rest of the batsmen struggled against the South African spinners.
Sri Lankan bowlers lead them to a series win
A target of 204 was always going to be a challenging one for the visitors.
Aiden Markram was dismissed for just 2 in the second over of the innings by Jayawickrama. Reza Hendrics did not last long and was dismissed in the third over of the innings by Chameera. Rassie van der Dussen was Chameera's second victim and South Africa were reduced to 19-3 in 4.1 overs.
The debutant Maheesh Theekshana picked up the in-form South African opener, Janneman Malan. Hasaranga thereafter accounted for Mulder and the visitors lost half of their side for just 48 runs in 10.4 overs.
Only Klaseen scored more than 20 runs in the innings. He was dismissed for 22.
The lower middle-order and tailenders did not last long and the South Africans were bundled out for 125 runs . Sri Lanka won the third ODI by 78 runs.
Debutant Theekshana picked up 4 wickets for 37 runs in 10 overs.
Sri Lanka emerged victorious in the 3 match ODI series by a margin of 2-1. The teams will now engage in a 3 match T20I series starting from 10th September 2021.
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