Sri Lanka opener Avishka Fernando has helped Sri Lanka as they registered a consolation win in the third ODI against India on Friday (July 23) at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo as well. While chasing 226 runs, Avishka Fernando (76) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (65) stitched 109 runs for the second wicket to take the team win.

Although they lost a few wickets in between, the target was too small that Sri Lanka faced no hiccups and chased down the target with eight overs to spare and three wickets in hand also.

While speaking at the end of the match, player of the match, Avishka Fernando said, “If we had done well in the second match, we would have won the series. I am very happy for the Player-of-the-Match award today though. After the England tour, I worked on my batting and that has helped. We have a very young side and going forward I believe we will do well.”

ALSO READ: Australia Cricketers Likely To Be Available For Rest of IPL 2021: Report

However, Avishka Fernando was the positives for Sri Lankan cricketer from the series. He scored 159 runs in the series, which also included two half-centuries as well. However, he didn’t get support from the other which saw Dasun Shanaka starting his captaincy assignment with a series defeat as well.

Meanwhile, The newly-appointed Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka stated, “Congratulation to India for the series win. It was a very good series throughout. Young guys showed a lot of maturity, both with bat and ball and that’s what I expect from them. It’s a big win for fans, they were waiting for years for this win; we have won against India at home after quite some time.”

ALSO READ: Kapil Dev Questions The Changing Mindset Of Players

With the ODI series has finished now, where India has already won, both the teams – India and Sri Lanka will now shift their focus to the three-match T20I series, which begins on July 25 as well.