Sri Lanka 4-164 (Tillakaratne Dilshan 74*, Mahela Jayawardene 33, Thisra Perera 25*, David Wiese 2-24) beat South Africa 3-163 (Faf du Plessis 85, Jean-Paul Duminy 51*, Suranga Lakmal 1-29) by six wickets.

A scintillating knock from the Sri Lankan opener, Tillakaratne Dilshan, led his side to a rousing win against the strong looking South Africa in the 3^rd T20.

The Proteas scored 163 runs for the loss of just three wickets at the end of the measured 20 overs and the Islanders hammered 164 with six wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare.

Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his dashing unbeaten innings of 74 off 51 mere balls.

Jean-Paul Duminy (South Africa) was declared ‘Player of the series’ for his outstanding batting. He was the top run scorer with 132 runs at an excellent average of 66.00 with the best of unbeaten 51.

The third and final Twenty20 of the series was played on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambatota.

Earlier, the captain of South Africa won the toss and preferred to bat first on a nice looking batting pitch. They lost an early wicket without any run as Faf du Plessis got in with Quinton de Kock. They scored 30 runs in five overs with 5 fours and du Plessis hit two back to back boundaries in the seventh one. Quinton de Kock was declared leg before wicket off Ajantha Mendis for 16 and was replaced by Jean-Paul Duminy. Faf du Plessis hit 2 lofty sixes in the 9^th over and smashed his third T20 fifty three overs later with 1 six and 1 four.

Duminy kept on cruising at his end while picking up regular boundaries and du Plessis was the most aggressive of the two. The latter was clean bowled by Suranga Lakmal for 85 off just 65 deliveries with 3 high sixes and 10 fours. Jean-Paul Duminy attained his sixth T20 fifty in the final over, he secured his end for 51 off 34 with 2 sixes and 3 fours as the tourists posted 3-163 in 20 overs.

Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal and Ajantha Mendis were the only successful bowlers with one wicket each.

The experienced duo of Tillakaratne Dilshan along with Mahela Jayawardene took off smartly as the first hit 14 runs in the very first over with 1 six and 2 fours. Jayawardene followed him with 14 runs in the next over with three consecutive fours. The pair dispatched 6 boundaries in the coming overs and enhanced the score to 67 in 5.5 overs when Mahela Jayawardene was gone for 33 off 27 balls with 7 fours. The middle order batting of the hosts revolved around Dilshan who was scoring most of the runs and powered his 8^th T20 half century in the 12^th over.

The Islanders were in a tight situation after losing their fourth wicket for 123 in 15.3 overs when Thisara Perera joined in with Dilshan. The Lankan Lions required another 27 runs from the last 18 balls when de Villiers handed over the ball to Wayne Parnell. Thisara Perera punished the bowler for 20 runs in the 18^th over comprising 1 six and 3 fours and Dilshan hit a six on the first ball of the 19^th one as the hosts plundered 4-164 after 18.1 overs. Tillakaratne Dilshan was batting at 74 off 51 balls with 2 sixes and 9 fours whereas Thisara Perera held his end for 25 from just 11 with 1 six and 3 fours.

David Wiese was the highest wicket taker with two whereas Wayne Parnell and Imran Tahir shared one wicket each.

Sri Lanka grasped the third Twenty20 with a big margin of six wickets but South Africa clinched the three match series 2-1.