'No pre-planning to go and tee off' - Finch

Opener Aaron Finch, who smashed 55 off 19 balls to set Australia on the path to a series win, identified that going hard in the mandatory Powerplay was the key to victory. Chasing 213, Australia sprinted to 35 for 0 in three overs, with Finch having scored all 35 runs. David Warner then found his groove with successive fours off left-arm spinner Amila Aponso as the visitors went on to slice 109 runs off the target in the first ten overs.

"In a small chase like that you tend to break the back of the chase as quick as you can," Finch said. "As it worked out, we got off to a flyer and that was nice. There is no pre-planning that I am going to go and tee off. We want to cash in and capitalise on the first ten as much as we can. That's always spoken about between myself and Davey and the guys coming in. It was about being aggressive in the first ten overs."

Finch made a mockery of Sri Lanka's attack and ran up an 18-ball half-century, equalling the Australian record shared by Simon O'Donnell and Glenn Maxwell. Did Finch know that he was within touching distance of the record?

"No, I actually had no idea. I think three Victorians have all got it now," Finch said. "I was disappointed not to beat Maxi, to be fair, I would have liked to have beaten Maxi. But Simon O'Donnell, he was a revolutionary of the game, wasn't he? He was someone who played the game in a sort of modern-day way. I had absolutely no idea what the record was until you see it come up on the screen later on."

Finch also criticised the quality of pitches in the series, something he had done during the ODI series opener at the Khettarama as well. Several balls raised puffs of dust on a deteriorating surface that was used for the third ODI too in Dambulla.

"Tough, tough conditions out there," he said. "We haven't been treated to good wickets in the one-day series especially… it can be quite frustrating as a batter when you look over and there is a beautiful batting wicket two strips over and it could have been a really entertaining game from a high-scoring point of view. But they used the same one, which was... well, home conditions and they are entitled to do that. It is nice to win when there are a lot of things working against you."