NZ vs SL 3rd T20I HIGHLIGHTS: Kiwi opening batter Tim Seifert’s blistering 88 runs off 48 ball have helped New Zealand defeat Sri Lanka by four wickets in their thrilling 3rd and final T20I. The match saw SL make 182-6 in their quota on the overs and NZ chasing the target with just one ball left to seal the series 2-1. Seifert’s brutal assault on Sri Lanka’s bowlers included 10 fours and 3 sixes. NZ were cruising up until the dramatic final over which started off with a six by Mark Chapman and a team hat-trick for SL and ended with a double by Rachin Ravindra to finish an thrilling match and series. Follow Sri Lanka Tour of New Zealand 2023 LIVE Updates with InsideSport.In
Rachin getting the job done for New Zealand 🇳🇿
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The 28-year-old, whose unbeaten 79 set up a nine-wicket win in the second match but he missed out on a maiden century after falling to Pramod Madushan in the 17th over with NZ looking comfortable with 154 on the board.
Sri Lanka fought back from there and with New Zealand needing 10 in the final over, Mark Chapman smashed Lahiru Kumara for a six before being caught at cover.
Jimmy Neesham was then run out off the next ball and Daryl Mitchell also departed but Rachin Ravindra ensured there would be no Super Over drama as in the first match by holding his nerve to take his side home.
Seifert and Shanaka on the NZ vs SL final match
“We got ahead of the run rate and sometimes you do go down the gears a bit,” Seifert said. “It’s a balance. The over I got out was the one we were going to target to get 10 or 20 runs.
“And we saw later that it takes only a couple of wickets for the bowling side to get back into the game as well.”
With two ANZ Player of the Match performances, the KFC Player of the Series – Tim Seifert 👏 #NZvSL #CricketNation pic.twitter.com/cYc8YDzA9X
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) April 8, 2023
The hosts had defeated Sri Lanka in both the preceding test and one-day international series by 2-0 margins.
New Zealand asked Sri Lanka to bat first after winning the toss and openers Pathum Nissanka (25) and Kusal Mendis (73) had to overcome some challenging swing bowling in the first six overs to lay a solid platform.
Dropped on 10 by Mitchell at slip, wicketkeeper Mendis went on to punish New Zealand in his 48-ball effort that contained six fours and five sixes as the 28-year-old reached his 12th half-century in the company of Kusal Perera (33).
Dhananjaya de Silva and skipper Dasun Shanaka both made good starts after the pair had departed but the tourists were unable to put New Zealand to the sword at the end of the innings and fell short of a match-winning total.
“We were 10 to 15 runs short,” said Shanaka. “That was the main lack, on the batting side. New Zealand did really well in the series.”
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