BAN vs SL Scorecard, 3rd T20I Highlights: Nuwan Thushara, Kusal Mendis dominate as Sri Lanka clinch T20I series

The third T20I match of the Sri Lanka of Bangladesh 2024 was held on Saturday, March 9. The two teams locked horns with each other at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

The third T20I served as the series-decider and the Lankan Lions outclassed the Bangla Tigers to seal the series 2-1. They won the match by 28 runs. Notably, Sri Lanka had earlier won the high-scoring and thrilling first T20I by 3 runs before losing the second match by 8 wickets.

BAN vs SL 3rd T20I – Sri Lanka innings: Kusal Mendis stars with the bat

Bangladesh won the toss and decided to invite the visitors to bat first in the match. While batting first, the Lankan Lions were off to a slow start and they were further jolted after Dhananjaya de Silva was dismissed in the 4th over at the team score of 18.

That was not it for Sri Lanka as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals for the remainder of the over of the innings, but a batting masterclass from the wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Mendis ensured that the visitors managed to post a good score on the board.

He was involved in three game-changing partnerships of the match with Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga and Charith Asalanka. He added 34 runs off 27 balls, 59 runs off 31 balls, and 22 runs off 11 balls with the aforementioned players.

Despite playing a classy knock, Kusal Mendis wasn’t able to hit a century and he fell just 14 runs short of the milestone. The top-order batsman slammed 86 runs off 55 balls and his innings consisted of 6 fours and 6 sixes.

The rest of the batters in Angelo Mathews (10), Dasun Shanaka (19), and Sadeera Samarawickrama (7) chipped in with crucial runs as the Lankan Lions posted 174/7 in 20 overs.

For Bangladesh, Taskin Ahmed and Rishad Hossain picked up two wickets each while Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam bagged one wicket each.

Well played mendis! 🎉 #BANvSL pic.twitter.com/dRG4UfHuwk

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) March 9, 2024

BAN vs SL 3rd T20I – Bangladesh innings: Nuwan Thushara destroys the hosts’ batting unit

Chasing the target, the Bangladesh batters weren’t able to handle the sheer class of Nuwan Thushara, who was recently roped in by Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction. The pace bowler made a mockery of the Bangladesh batting unit and made the batters look clueless.

Thushara was breathing fire in the 4th over of the innings as he removed Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, and Mahmudullah to become just the 5th bowler from his country to take a hat-trick in the T20I cricket.

The sensational bowling performance of the pacer left the hosts tottering at 6-32 and they needed someone to step up to avoid an embarrassing defeat. That was when Rishad Hossain and Mahedi Hasan stepped up and added 44 runs off 31 balls. After that, Hossain was involved in a 41-run partnership with Taskin Ahmed and he also hit a fifty, but it wasn’t enough for his team to win the match.

Rishad Hossain scored 53 runs off 30 balls, with 7 sixes, before being cleaned up by Maheesh Theekshana. In the end, Bangladesh were restricted to 146 and they lost the match by 28 runs to face a series defeat.

Dutch-Bangla Bank Bangladesh 🆚 Sri Lanka T20i Series 2024 | 3rd T20i 🏏

Match Result | Sri Lanka won by 28 Runs

Details 👉: https://t.co/T8LrzlQehy#BCB #Cricket #BANvSL #BDCricket #LiveCrcket #Bangladesh #T20I #HomeSeries #T20series pic.twitter.com/J3fDdlreCH

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) March 9, 2024

BAN vs SL 3rd T20I – Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka innings – Kusal Mendis 86 runs off 55 balls, Taskin Ahmed 2/25.

Bangladesh innings – Rishad Hossain 53 runs off 30 balls, Nuwan Thushara 5/20.

BAN vs SL 3rd T20I– Full Scorecard