Sri Lanka breeze to series win over West Indies

Sri Lanka cruised to a nine-wicket victory over West Indies to seal a T20I series triumph.

With the series delicately poised at 1-1 heading into the final match on Thursday, Sri Lanka started with intent in Dambulla.

Maheesh Theekshana (2-19) and Wanindu Hasaranga (2-24) led the charge as Sri Lanka skittled through the Windies' top order.

Rovman Powell's stubborn 37 and a contribution of 32 from Gudakesh Motie steered West Indies to a reasonable total of 162-8, but it was one well within reach of Sri Lanka.

Pathum Nissanka clipped seven fours and one six in a 22-ball 37 to get Sri Lanka's chase rolling at pace, before he was bowled by Gudakesh Mottie (1-31).

Yet the damage was mostly done, with Kusal Mendis powering his way to an unbeaten 68 and Kusal Perera plundering 55 from 36 balls to get the job done with the minimum of fuss.

Not enough to get us the win today. Well played to @OfficialSLC and the series win.#SLvWI | #MenInMaroon pic.twitter.com/HX2NXiRfVj

— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) October 17, 2024

Data Debrief: Perera closing in on Sri Lanka record

Perera is now just nine runs away from surpassing Tillakaratne Dilshan (1,889) as the leading scorer in Sri Lanka's T20I history.

His efforts, combined with those of Nissanka and Mendis, saw Sri Lanka win for a fourth time in their last six T20Is at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, although this is the first time they have won at the venue in that run when batting second.

The Windies' miserable record in Asia has continued, meanwhile. They have won only one of their last 11 T20Is in Asia (L10), with that victory coming in the first match of this series. They have now lost 33 T20Is on the continent in total, with only Ireland (35) having lost more.