Sri Lanka avoided a 0-5 clean sweep by winning the final T20I by five wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Kusal Mendis' 58-ball 69 helped them chase 155 with a ball to spare.
With two set batters, Mendis and Dasun Shanaka, at the crease, Sri Lanka needed nine runs in the final over. Shanaka hit a six off the third ball from Kane Richardson to level the score. Chamika Karunaratne then completed a single on the penultimate ball to win the game for his team.
Kamil Mishara, coming in place of Danushka Gunathilaka, got run out for 1, while Charith Asalanka was bowled by Ashton Agar, whose economy of 4.8 was second to none. Mendis, however, held the fort, and added 81 with Shanaka (35) to guide Sri Lanka across the target.
Earlier, Dushmantha Chameera and Praveen Jayawickrama got rid of Aaron Finch and Ben McDermott respectively, but Glenn Maxwell struck two fours to take Australia to 22/2 by the end of the Powerplay.
Maxwell scored 29 in 21 balls before falling to Lahiru Kumara. Two balls later, Kumara got Marcus Stoinis (17) to reduce Australia to 82/5. Matthew Wade's 27-ball 43 and a quick 18 from Daniel Sams helped Australia reach 154/6.
Australia 154/6 in 20 overs (Matthew Wade 43*; Dushmantha Chameera 2-30) lost to Sri Lanka 155/5 in 19.5 overs (Kusal Mendis 69*; Kane Richardson 2-28) by 5 wickets with 1 ball to spare. Player of the Match: Kusal Mendis.
Australia won the series by 4-1. Player of the Series: Glenn Maxwell.