Despite losing both openers for low scores, Sri Lanka got off to a flier with Kusal Mendis only dealing with sixes and punishing the pacers. He registered a counter-attacking half-century in just 25 balls and when he was batting, it looked like he would make a match out of this. However, after building a decent enough stand with Sadeera Samarawickrama, both of them were dismissed in quick succession and they had to rebuild again. After that, Charith Asalanka did step up and scored a gritty 79 off 65 balls but with the required rate creeping up and no real support from the other end, he too perished. The Lankan batters could not capitalise on the chances that were given to them by their opponents. Still, their skipper showed more fight towards the end and registered another gritty fifty while Kasun Rajitha also played a quick cameo. However, that only managed to get them past the 300-run mark and narrowed the margin, but in the end, they still fell short by 102 runs.
