Sri Lanka 191 for 2 (Samarawickrama 71*, Athapaththu 52, Hasini 50*, Sana 1-34) beat Pakistan 187 (Sana 41, Dilhari 3-27, Athapaththu 3-27, Vimukthi 3-36) by eight wickets
Having bowled the visitors out for 187, Sri Lanka’s top order made sure there would be no hiccups in running down the target. Vishmi Gunaratne, fresh off a century in the second ODI, fell cheaply for 12, but not before providing the hosts with a fast start along with Athapaththu.
Athapaththu fell shortly after crossing fifty for a 38-ball 52, and that was the last Sri Lanka wicket to fall as Hasini and Samarawickrama saw through the chase with an unbroken 106-run partnership for the third wicket. Hasini reached her fifty in what turned out to be the penultimate over of the chase, though it was Samarawickrama who was afforded the opportunity to score the winning runs, and she did it in style with an authoritative drive through extra cover to remain unbeaten on 71.
Samarawickrama was fittingly named the Player of the Series for her 173 runs, including a match-winning century in the second ODI.
It was a fine display of seam bowling, as Vimukthi got both Sadaf Shamas and Sidra Amin to play away from themselves, and edge behind with ones that seamed away, before bringing one back in to have Ayesha Zafar trapped lbw first ball.
It was a devastating start as far as Pakistan were concerned, a setback they struggled to recover from. They were 10 for 3, before a 68-run stand between Gull Feroza and Muneeba Ali consolidated the innings somewhat. But a missed sweep from Feroza saw her given out lbw off Athapaththu for a counterattacking 40 off 35 deliveries. It was a crucial point in the match as Pakistan had just been seeking to bring themselves back into proceedings.
From that point on, Pakistan managed to put together three more stands of at least 30, but the highest of those was 34, as Sri Lanka kept chipping away and snuffing out any threats at pivotal moments. Muneeba (34) sliced a cut to gully, while Najiha Alvi (30) chipped a leading edge back to Athapaththu; both had got starts, but neither were able to stick around.
