Sri Lanka eases to 99-run victory to clinch ODI series against Bangladesh 2-1

PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka (AP) – Kusal Mendis smashed his sixth ODI hundred and led Sri Lanka to a commanding 99-run victory in the third and final one-day international as the home team clinched the series 2-1.

Mendis marshaled Sri Lanka to 285-7 with an aggressive 124 off 114 balls after captain Charith Asalanka won the toss and elected to bat.

The Bangladeshi batters struggled against the pace of Dushmantha Chameera and Asitha Fernando, who shared six wickets between them to bowl out the visitors for 186 and give Sri Lanka an eighth successive win in a home ODI series.

Fernando clean bowled Tanzid Hasan (17) with a searing yorker in the third over of the chase and Najmul Hossain Shanto then deflected Chameera’s incoming delivery back onto the top of the stumps for nought as the visitors slipped to 2-20.

Sri Lanka’s middle-order struggled against the spin as Dunith Wellalage (2-33) and Wanindu Hasaranga (2-35) struck with regular intervals and the Bangladeshi batters also couldn’t put up strong partnerships.

Towhid Hridoy (51) made a fighting half century off 78 balls before Chameera returned and knocked back the stumps with another superb inswinger and Fernando varied his pace to perfection for two wickets of the tailenders to wrap up the game.

Earlier, Mendis marshaled Sri Lanka to a strong total and together with Asalanka shared a strong 124-run fourth-wicket stand.

Mendis was strong on the leg side and smashed 18 fours in his chanceless century as he punished anything pitched short with his short-arm jab pull shots while sweeping the spinners to perfection.

“My batting coach said that if I score we will win,” Mendis said. “I played a different game in the last match, but today I played my normal game after speaking to the coach. The pitch was a little slow, but it came on better later on.”

Bangladesh had kept Sri Lanka in check at 3-100 in 21 overs before Mendis and Asalanka took charge. Sri Lanka looked set to get past the 300-run mark but Bangladesh came back well in the last 10 overs.

Asalanka, who made 58 off 68 balls, holed out in the deep in the 41st over when he missed out on a low full toss of fast bowler Taskin Ahmed.

Mendis fell in the 46th over as he top-edged a short ball from Shamim Hossain, who grabbed a catch over his shoulder. Ahmed finished with 2-51 and Mehidy Hasan Miraz took 2-48.

“We didn’t get partnerships in the middle, and from the openers,” Bangladesh captain Miraz said. “That was the problem for us. Our team is young, they need time. If you give opportunity it might pay off one day.”

Both teams will now compete in a three-match T20 series, starting from Thursday.