Sri Lanka did brilliantly well to keep the series alive with a comprehensive victory in the third one-day international, and now they will want to take this entertaining series to the wire with victory over New Zealand in the 4th ODI in Nelson on Saturday.
The Lankans were staring down the barrel after being pummelled into submission by Martin Guptill in the second one-dayer, with victory on this tour, let alone this series, looking unlikely.
However, when a win was necessary, the Sri Lanka batsmen finally stepped up their game, making a target of 277 look rather easy, hauling down the total in 46.2 overs with eight wickets to spare.
The key for Sri Lanka will now be to continue that winning momentum and ensure they take this five-match ODI series to the final game, and to do that the obvious need is a win on Saturday.
New Zealand, while wondering how that third match got away from them so easily, will not be too concerned, because, at the end of the day, it was some good cricket from Sri Lanka that lost the home team the game, even if the bowlers could have done a little better.
"On the scoreboard it was somewhat one-sided but we know we only need to make just small adjustments to be better in the next one," New Zealand stand-in and future captain Kane Williamson was quoted as saying by Stuff.co.nz.
"The ways the boys scrapped to a pretty competitive total was a good effort. To make that total even better we had to bowl very well in that first 10 and we didn't. We'll all admit we were off the mark there."
While they missed the services of Brendon McCullum, particularly his belligerence at the top of the order, New Zealand have enough firepower to finish the series off with victory on Saturday, even if the skipper misses out again. McCullum sat out the third match with a sore back, and if the right-hander does return, Tom Latham might be the batsman to make way.
Either way, New Zealand need to up their game against Sri Lanka on Saturday, something the home team should be confident of doing, considering the way they have dominated the visitors in the majority of the matches of this tour.
Where to Watch Live
New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 4th ODI is scheduled for an 11 am local time (3.30 am IST, 10 pm GMT) start with no live TV coverage of the match in India.
Ten Sports is the place to be to watch the match live in Sri Lanka, while Sky Sport will broadcast the fourth one-day international in New Zealand. The live streaming option for viewers in NZ is Sky Go NZ. Fox Sports will show New Zealand vs Sri Lanka live in Australia, with the online live streaming option on Foxtel.
Sky Sports will also broadcast the 2nd ODI in the UK and Ireland, while the match can also be live streamed on Sky Go.
Viewers in the US can catch all the cricket action live on Willow TV, with the live stream option on Willow TV Online.
