Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh, 3rd ODI at Kandy, SL vs BAN, Jul 08 2025 - Match Result

So as Sri Lanka lift the trophy, we bring to a close our coverage of this ODI series. Bangladesh's wait for a series win in Sri Lanka goes on, but they will have a chance once more as the T20Is kick-off in Pallekele this Thursday. Be sure to join us for that, but for now, on behalf of Fidel and the rest of the team, this is Madushka signing off.

Charith Asalanka: "This was a quite interesting and important game, and a lot of the guys delivered at the right time. [your batting?] When I first entered I thought the pitch was slightly on the slower side, and I couldn't make my singles very easily. I then took some calculated risks and hit a few boundaries to get runs. [last 10 overs?] Quite disappointing because once we get that kind of start, we might look around 300."

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: "I think we bowled really well in the last 10 overs. It's not easy to bowl here, because the wicket was excellent. Taskin, Mustafizur and the spinners did very well. [Where did you go wrong?] I think the wicket was excellent, we discussed about playing positive. If we get the chance we should bat deep, and the last 10 overs we can go harder. But I think we made mistakes. We didn't get partnerships in the middle, and from the openers. That was the problem for us. [positives?] Our team is young, they need time. If you give opportunity it might pay off one day."

Player of the Match goes to Kusal Mendis for his 124 off 114. Kusal is also the Player of the Series for his 225 runs at 75: "I'm very happy. No I didn't know [that SL always win at home when I score a hundred]. My batting coach said that if I score we will win. [change from last game] I played a different game in the last match, but today I played my normal game after speaking to the coach. The pitch was a little slow, but it came on better later on."

10.06pm Time for the post match presentation.

Gihan : "@Krunal, you have a point. Normally we see some aggressive rivalry between these two teams recently, but in this series as well as in the Tests we have been seeing smiley faces with patting and joking. It's a good sign. We actually need that rather than sledging. "

Jay Deshpande: "Sri Lanka's current team looks very similar to the one they developed in the mid to late 90s and early 00s. Very strong at home, with more and more surprises overseas. Here's hoping that the revival of Sri Lankan cricket continues. I can sense a lot of magic."

krunal: "As an observer of the Naagin rivalry since the last couple of years, I can say that this is one of the cooler bilateral series." --- It's definitely one of the most competitive around, Krunal.

Mustafa Moudi: "While the Series results were competitive as this series reached this decider, But I found this series to be - Win Toss and you Win the Match type. As all the 3 times that defending sides won and so the Toss gave a major advantage !!" --- Don't think the toss was as big an advantage as is being made out, to be honest. First two games the chasing team were in control for large parts, while in this Bangladesh struggled with partnerships.

Dany: "Sri Lanka did well 1st and 3rd ODI they won big and 2nd SL lost with fight and tight finish "

The series though was hard fought. Bangladesh let the first ODI slip from a position of near total control, and in the second they delivered on that promise. But in the third, they just weren't able to handle the key moments as well as the Sri Lankans. We will have the post-match presentation shortly.

9.53pm A comfortable win in the end, even if at the halfway point Bangladesh would have felt they were right in the game. 286 was a gettable target, but Sri Lanka's seam pair of Dushmantha Chameera and Asitha Fernando were irresistable in their opening burst and then came through to take out the lower order as well. The pair picked up 6 wickets between them - 3 apiece - while the spinners did their part in keeping up the pressure. Hridoy's stands of 42 and 43 with Emon and Mehidy gave Bangladesh hope, but Sri Lanka kept chipping away, with Bangladesh's batters having no answers. With the bat though, Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka did a bulk of the work, with the former notching a sixth ODI century. Bangladesh reeled things back at the death, but in the end Sri Lanka had already done enough.

Z.S. Khan: "Reality is Bangladesh are at max a 250-60 run team in a 400 world."

Aruna: "Let me put this in as well for good measure. As it was proven in the last game the last pair can win matches too. SL should not be complacent." --- Pretty great timing, Aruna.

Mustafizur is the last man in

Naseef: "@Faisal, I don't think Sohan would make much of a difference. We need to bat Jaker higher, and define the roles of each batsmen properly. Plus the importance of strike rotation should be emphasised on, and practised in the nets."

Thanusan: "SL have enough bowlers to rotate..... Seems fair. But still why these minefields" --- Hardly been minefields, Thanusan. Neither here nor in Colombo. But yes, I get your point, the plan should definitely be more seam and batter friendly surfaces.

Tarif Sherhan : "@SA-Parvej: all of them got enough chances and failed miserably. The process should have started long ago when the 'talismans' were in their prime. but we were busy saying why Shakib misses bilateral serieses very often. "

around the wicket

Wanindu is back

Salman Bin Aziz: "Strike rotation is a big problem for Bangladesh's current middle order. In looking to stabilise they just bog down, hoping to make up later. But they are rarely ever able to take it deep enough, and the dots conceded are never compensated. Shakib and Mushfiq always used to keep the scoreboard ticking with singles and twos while they were on crease."

Faisal : "BD is suffering for a proper middle order batter like Nurul Hasan Sohan, Yasir Ali Choudhary, Mahidul Islam Ankon. Now they have only Towhid Hridoy (arguably proper). They are now hobbling with all lower order batter like Miraz, Shamim, Jaker. At least one proper middle order batter like Nurul Hasan (who has international experience and he is best middle order batter in domestic arena) in the squad could have changed the momentum of this match."

AJ: "Hridoy's approach works to an extent until it's time to be more aggressive. On a better day, he would've tried to pull that delivery through midwicket, since he's a strong leg side player. He gets too defensive and eventually someone will break through his flawed front foot defense"