After his bowlers did the job, Tillakaratne Dilshan was ruthless in finishing Zimbabwe off with an aggressive century, his seventh in ODIs. In scoring the century, Dilshan also became the highest scorer in the tournament.

Zimbabwe made the mistake of not opening with spin, a move that has worked well for them. By the time Ray Price bowled his first over, Sri Lanka had already reached 38 in six overs, and Dilshan had hit his way to 25 off 19. Dilshan loved the pace that Chris Mpofu and Elton Chigumbura provided. He whipped the first ball he faced through midwicket, and never looked back. By the time Ray Price came on to bowl, Dilshan had hit his way to 25 off 19. Once again, the Zimbabwe bowlers made the mistake of bowling too short to him, and paid the price.

With only a small target, Dilshan didn't offer the Zimbabwe spinners the respect they are used to. He hit boundaries in both of Price's first two overs, and as has been the trend Tharanga took over after the Dilshan blitz. By the 17th over, Tharanga had almost caught up with Dilshan, and brought up Sri Lanka's hundred with an effortless six over long-on, off the bowling of Prosper Utseya.

The only matter of interest left then was the two batsmen's race to a hundred. It was ended when there was misunderstanding over a sharp single to short third man, and Tharanga sacrificed his wicket. With just 40 runs required, Dilshan was the likelier man to get to the century, and he did.