Sri Lanka women registered their name in the history books on Wednesday (April 3) at Buffalo Park in East London when they defeated South Africa in the third T20I by four wickets to clinch the three-match T20I series 2-1.
Sri Lanka's series win is their first-ever against South Africa in any format and it came to life after a team performance.
Tasked to chase down 156 to win the game and the series, Sri Lanka got off to a poor start as opener Vishmi Gunaratne (One run off three balls) departed cheaply in the second over.
The onus then fell on the responsible shoulders of Chamari Athapaththu who along with Harshitha Samarawickrama stitched a 97-run stand for the second wicket.
Chamari was the explosive of the two batters as she hammered 73 off just 46 balls to regain momentum in Sri Lanka's corner. The southpaw found boundaries with ease and hit a total of seven fours and five sixes during her 73-run knock off 46 balls.
She struck at a rate of 158.69 which helped Sri Lanka keep the asking rate in check. Chamari's scoring rate also worked in favour of Harshitha.
Harshitha took her time to get her eyes in to register a match-winning half-century. While the visitors lost four more wickets after Chamari's downfall in the 13th over, Harshitha's calculated knock helped the team to register its highest run chase in T20I history.
Harshitha remained unbeaten and scored 54 off 43 balls. Left-arm orthodox bowler Sugandika Kumari led the charge with the ball in hand earlier and bagged a three-for to ensure South Africa do not post a massive total.
Chamari was awarded the Player of the Match (POTM) for her outstanding knock whereas South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt won the Player of the Series award for scoring 158 runs.
