Chamari shines as SL defeat NZ by 10 wickets to avoid whitewash

COLOMBO: With Chamari Athapaththu's unbeaten 80, Sri Lanka registered a dominating win by 10 wickets victory in the last T20I match of the three-match series against New Zealand to avoid clean sweep in Colombo on Wednesday.

The series was already lost for Sri Lanka heading in the final game but the hosts had pride to play for as they set to avoid a whitewash against New Zealand in the T20I series. The Lankans thus produced a spirited performance, first with the ball to restrict New Zealand to 140 and then chasing it down without losing a wicket with more than five overs to spare, as per the ICC.

It looked at one point that New Zealand would put on a formidable total but Sri Lanka pulled it back by scalping five wickets in the last three overs.

Chasing 141 to win, Chamari Athapaththu came out all guns blazing. Inside the Powerplay, Sri Lanka managed to score 64 without losing a wicket, of which the skipper scored 45. She notched up her fifty in just 25 balls, the fastest by a Sri Lankan women's player in T20Is. The damage did not stop after Athapaththu got to her milestone as she finished with an unbeaten 80 off just 42 balls, laced with 13 fours and two sixes.

Harshitha Madavi (49* off 40) was a silent second fiddle for the most part before she smashed three fours in the 14th over to finish off the chase with 33 balls to spare. Finishing the match off with a four, Sri Lanka finished with 143/0 and toppled the record for the highest 10-wicket run-chase in Women's T20I history.

They beat the record by just one run, edging past New Zealand's 142/0 against Ireland in 2018. The pair of Athapaththu and Madavi added an unbeaten 143 runs for the first wicket, which is now the highest partnership for any wicket by the Sri Lankan women's team. This was only the third 100+ run partnership by the Sri Lankan team in Women's T20Is and Madavi has been involved in each one of them.