Kusal's century helps Sri Lanka secure 'big' consolation win

Kusal Perera's flamboyant century helped Sri Lanka to hammer Pakistan by 165 runs in the fifth and final ODI at Hambantota on Sunday.

However, Pakistan, despite losing the final match, won the series 3-2 as they had already secured the trophy at Premdasa Stadium on Wednesday.

The left-handed opener, who scored his second ODI hundred, shared a brilliant 162-run opening stand with destructive Tillakaratne Dilshan (62), as the hosts set a mammoth target of 369 runs for the visitors.

Skipper Angelo Mathews and Milinda Siriwardana did justice to this start, by scoring a flurry of late boundaries as Sri Lanka amassed 107 runs in the last eight overs of the innings.

Chasing the target, Pakistan made a relatively slow start, adding 46 runs in the first nine overs. The team was sailing at 116-2 in the 20th over following a decent opening partnership of 51 between skipper Azhar Ali and Ahmed Shehzad, before they succumbed to pressure of the huge score and lost last eight wickets for just 87 runs.

Mohammad Hafeez (37) and Azhar (35) were the lone contributors as the tourists faltered badly under lights despite good batting conditions.

Perera, who played a brilliant knock of 116 runs, was declared man of the match and Pakistan's batting all rounder Hafeez was adjudged man of the series.

The two teams will now lock horns for the two-match T20 series, scheduled on July 30 and August 1, in Colombo.