Bandara, Madushan guide SL to series win

Kaveen Bandara's 91 and debutant Udith Madushan's 3 for 41 helped Sri Lanka Under-19 beat Pakistan Under-19 by 85 runs in the fourth youth ODI in Colombo, and take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

After being inserted, Sri Lanka's openers added 49 to give the team a solid start. Hasan Mohsin removed Avishka Fernando for 3, but the 94-run third-wicket stand between Bandara and Kamindu Mendis led the team's recovery.

Shadab Khan and Sameen Gul then triggered a middle-order collapse to reduce Sri Lanka to 189 for 7. The hosts could add just 27 more as they folded for 216 in 35.5 overs. Bandara's 93-ball innings studded with 10 fours and a six and Mendis' 39 turned out to be valuable in the end.

In their reply, Pakistan received an early setback as left-arm seamer Lahiru Samarakoon dismissed Abdullah Shafique for a duck. Their efforts to rebuild never really took off as they lost wickets regularly even as the scorecard kept moving along. The score that read 50 for 5 in the 10the over soon became 69 for 7 in the 18th. A 54-run eighth-wicket stand between Hayatullah and Shadab led a mini-recovery, but the damage proved too hard to repair as the hosts cantered to an 85-run win.