Kusal Perera scored Sri Lanka’s fastest T20I century, from 44 balls, on Thursday to spur his team to a consolation win over New Zealand by seven runs in the final match of the three-game series.

Perera’s career-best score in a century partnership with captain Charith Asalanka lifted Sri Lanka to 218-5. New Zealand needed to achieve its highest run chase in T20s to complete a clean sweep and were given a good start by Rachin Ravindra [69]. But the Kiwis fell just short in the end.