Sri Lanka left with several worry lines ahead of T20 WC
After their one-sided loss in the second game, it was a similar story for the hosts in the third as South Africa went on to win the series 3-0 and underline the progress they’ve made as a side in spin-friendly conditions of the sub-continent.
The Sri Lankan batsmen went hard at everything in the powerplay, lost wickets in the process and could never recover from that stutter.
South Africa were able to bowl dry in the middle overs, getting two overs from Aiden Markram for only two runs.
In fact, the four spinners in the side bowled 14 overs among them and had combined figures of four for 66.
Once Kusal Perera was out in the 13th over, it always looked like Sri Lanka would collapse. But Chamika Karunaratne’s 24 not out off 19 balls, which included a couple sixes off Shamsi and Wiaan Mulder, helped Sri Lanka finish relatively well.
South Africa openers Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks completed half-centuries, showing how to bat in these conditions.
De Kock finished on 59 off 46 balls, toying with the spinners at will as the Sri Lankans found it difficult to grip the ball and purchase spin once the dew set in.
Chief scores
Sri Lanka: 120/8 in 20 overs (K. Perera 39, B. Fortuin 2/21)
South Africa: 121/0 in 14.4 overs (Q. de Kock 59 n.o, R. Hendricks 56 n.o). (Agencies)