Opener Kusal Mendis hit a brilliant 86 and pacer Nuwan Thushara added a career-best 5-20 including a hat trick as Sri Lanka cruised to a 28-run victory over Bangladesh in the final SL vs BAN T20 International to win the series 2-1 on Saturday.

Sri Lanka won the first match by three runs, but Bangladesh levelled with an eight-wicket victory. Mendis` 55-ball knock that included six fours and as many sixes single-handedly drove the side to 174-6 and then Thushara, playing his first game in the series, ripped through top-order in a swing bowling display. "This is our last series before the World, so we take a lot of confidence from this," Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga said. "It`s Thushara`s first game this series, he bowled really well," he added.

"This is a good SL vs BAN series win for us and just think our bowling attack was too good for them." Rishad Hossain hit seven sixes, the highest by a Bangladesh batter in this format in an innings, for his 30-ball 53 as Bangladesh recovered from

32-6 to be all out for 146 in 19.4 overs. Thushara, the replacement of injured Matheesha Pathirana, took four wickets in his twoovers including a hat trick to ruin Bangladesh`s hope to seal its first-ever T20I series victory against Sri Lanka. Dhananjaya de Silva broke through with the wicket of Liton Das (7) and then in the next over, Thushara joined the party.

He removed captain Najmul Hossain Shanto (1) and Towhid Hridoy by rattling their stump before trapping Mahmudullah for leg-before. Mahmudullah reviewed in vain as Thushara became the fourth Sri Lankan bowler to achieve a hat trick in this format. In his next over, Thushara got the better of Soumya Sarkar, and then Hasanranga dismissed Jaker Ali (4) to leave Bangladesh 32-6.