Sri Lanka vs South Africa: 3rd T20I - Dilshan helps Sri Lanka avoid a clean sweep

Tillakaratne Dilshan scored 74* of 51 deliveries to help Sri Lanka avoid a white wash

Leading the series 2-0, South African captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat in the third and final Twenty-20 international match against Sri Lanka at Hambantota.

While South Africa played an unchanged side, the home team had to make a couple of changes as an ankle injury ruled out Lasith Malinga, with Suranga Lakmal replacing him, and Tillakaratne Dilshan was brought back in ahead of Kumar Sangakkara.

The openers Henry Davids and Quinton de Kock failed for the third consecutive time in the series. Davids was dismissed for a duck in the very first ball of the innings by Nuwan Kulasekara whereas De Kock’s incompetence against spin led to his downfall yet again, only difference this time being Ajanta Mendis picked up his wicket as opposed to Sachithra Senanayake on previous occasions.

However, with South Africa at 45-2 in 7.2 overs Du Plessis combined with Jean-Paul Duminy for the third wicket to put together 112 runs in 73 deliveries, also helped by some sloppy effort in the field by the Lankans, to take their team to 163/3 in 20 overs.

Du Plessis scored 85 runs of 65 balls before being sent back by Lakmal in the final over of the innings while Duminy remained unbeaten scoring 51 runs off 34 balls.

Sri Lanka, in reply, started off with a flier as Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene raced away to 67 in 5.4 overs before Wayne Parnell got rid of Mahela, for a 16-ball 33, who looked to be in some touch.

The batsmen who followed up failed to capitalize on the start provided by the openers, as South Africa started pegging back with quick wickets to reduce the home team to 123-4 in 15.3 overs. With Dilshan, having brought up his fifty and big hitter Thisara Perera at the crease, Sri Lanka were still in with a very good chance though, requiring 41 of the the last 27 balls.

Perera took Parnell to the cleaners in the 18th over of the match as 21 runs were taken off in that over thereby ensuring a comfortable win for Sri Lanka. Dilshan completed the match with a six over square leg of Morkel. Dilshan was awarded the man of the match for his unbeaten 74 runs from 51 balls.