Kusal Mendis and Thisara Perera struck 50s to guide Sri Lanka to a winning total of 280-9 in the third and final one-day international against Bangladesh in Colombo yesterday.
Mendis top-scored with 54, while Perera added 52 off 40 deliveries for the home after they were sent in by Bangladesh at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
Bangladesh did a commendable job in the field to restrict the home side after an initial hammering by openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Upul Thranga, but their batting effort faltered.
Needing a win to avoid a series defeat for the first time against Bangladesh, Gunathilaka and Tharanga began aggressively to put on 76 runs in their opening stand in a little over 10 overs.
Spinner Mehedi Hasan broke the stand as Gunathilaka gave a catch to Mahmudullah after making 34 runs off 38 deliveries.
Taskin Ahmed beat Tharanga with pace to bowl the Sri Lanka captain for 35.
Mendis tried to rebuild the innings with former captain Dinesh Chandimal, but two successive run outs hurt them.
With Bangladesh making regular breakthroughs, Perera launched a counterattack to race to his second half-century in the series before he fell to Mortaza in the final overs.
Mortaza finished with 3-65 for Bangladesh, whose shot at a first series win over Sri Lanka was undone by Nuwan Kulasekara’s 4-37.
Shakib Al Hasan (54) and Hasan (51) were the top scorer in their 210 all out.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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