Andre Russell smashes 40* off 14 as West Indies sweep Sri Lanka 2-0
King and Russell tore into the SL attack to chase down a modest 155 with three overs to spare
King and Russell tore into the SL attack to chase down a modest 155 with three overs to spare
Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: Ankur Dhawan
Right, that's all from us, folks. Thanks for giving us company through this West indies tour of Sri Lanka. This is Ankur Dhawan, signing off on behalf of Andrew Fidel Fernando. To relive all the action, hop over to Andrew's Report which will be in shortly.
Kieron Pollard: Pretty satisfied to leave Sri Lankan shores with a victory, we hadn't won a T20I series in a while. The guys executed nicely, the foundation was laid by Brandon King, the young man is finding his feet in international cricket, Russell finished it off and the bowlers were brilliant. We were trying to make them hit to one side of the park only. (Kusal Perera) He is always looking for the length ball, every time we bowl fuller he tends to miss, our analyst has done a brilliant job, and as I said, it was a total team effort.
Lasith Malinga: I think this surface we needed more runs. 150 is enough to fight with on a slow pitch, but Wanindu's (Hasarnga's) injury hurt us. We needed early wickets defending 155, we didn't get those. I feel bowling is not on top because we are not picking up many wickets. In the next 12 games we need to find consistency and confidence. Definitely (fielding has improved), players and support staff putting in a lot of effort and that's why there is improvement.
Andre Russell is the player of the match and the series: I was just trying to get the runs, it was a good team display. We still have some areas to work on but we are peaking at the right time, everyone is in tune. (On ODI series loss) I think when you start off on the wrong foot, you end up playing catch, we have a good ODI side though.
Brandon King: It was pleasing, my role as opener is to try and get the team into a good position in the Powerplay. We haven't done well in the last couple of series so this was very important. The way he (Andre Russell) hits the ball, nobody else in the world can do it.
10.25pmWest Indies take the series two-nil, and they've done this at a canter. Sri Lanka needed something special from Lasith Malinga defending what was a modest total against a powerful batting line up, but he was taken for 31 in his first two with Brandon King smacking him for consecutive sixes. He went for 46 in his three, suffering at the hands of Andre Russell towards the end. King made 43 before Lahiru Kumara's pace accounted for him, and he did rattle the West Indies briefly, greeting Rovman Powell with a blow to the helmet. However, Shimron Hetmyer, who didn't get to bat in the last match, anchored the chase nicely, and Andre Russell finished things off with some of the most brutal hitting you would ever see. Sri Lanka missed Hasaranga with the ball due to injury but truth be told, they were well short with the bat despite a good recovery.
King and Russell tore into the SL attack to chase down a modest 155 with three overs to spare
Sri Lanka's bowlers will need to pose more of a collective threat to stop a rampaging batting line-up