Mumbai: Sri Lanka produced a stunning performance to beat South Africa by 5 wickets in the third T20I in Cape Town to clinch the series 2-1. While the Asian team batted excellently to chase down a total of 170 in 20 overs, but the match will be forever remembered for Asela Gunaratne’s premature celebration.
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The Sri Lankan cricketer celebrated victory a ball too early. The sub-continent team needed 11 runs from the final over. Gunaratne smashed the first delivery over fine leg to collect a boundary, after which the batsmen collected two singles off the next two deliveries. With 5 required off 3, Gunaratne top-edged a ball over the wicketkeeper for a boundary.
The batsman miscalculated and started celebrating Sri Lanka’s win with one run still required. Such was the adrenaline rush that Gunaratne also pulled the wicket out to celebrate. The batsman was later calmed down by his partner Seekkuge Prasanna before hitting the winning run off the next delivery.
The incident reminded us of Mushfiqur Rahim’s early celebration against India in 2016 World T20 with two runs still required off three deliveries. As fate would have it, Bangladesh lost the three wickets off the last three deliveries and handed over an unbelievable one-run win to India.
