Munro brought up the winning runs with a six to be unbeaten on 50 after 14 balls, the second fastest Twenty20 half-century behind a 12-ball spree by India’s Yuvraj Singh against England in 2007.
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Earlier, New Zealand restricted Sri Lanka to 142 for eight from their 20 overs, with Grant Elliott finishing with impressive figures of four for 22 from his four overs while Adam Milne and Mitchell Santner took two wickets each.
Munro has etched his name onto the record books as the scorer of the second fastest T20I fifty, the third fastest T20 fifty, and the fastest T20 fifty by any Kiwi.
Guptill was the only wicket to fall, out for 63 off 25 balls with six fours and five sixes, while Munro clouted seven sixes and one four, as New Zealand took exactly ten overs to get past the modest 143-run target, with Kane Williamson unbeaten on 32.
Munro and Guptill combined for an 89-run partnership after 6.4 overs, before Williamson came in and combined with Munro for a 53-run partnership in just 3.2 overs to close the series.
The defeat means Sri Lanka loses its world number one ranking in T20i cricket.
It beat the record set earlier in the inning by opener Martin Guptill, whose own half-century had taken 19 balls, four fewer than the mark Guptill had shared with Aaron Redmond.
Mathews played superbly to try and help his side finish their tour on a high, but 60 balls later that possibility was swiftly swept aside.
“To restrict them to the score we did I thought was a good effort but I still thought it would be a bit of a scrap on that wicket as it was holding up a fraction”, Williamson said.
“I’ve shown glimpses of what I can do in the [domestic T20 competition], but it was really pleasing to do it on the worldwide stage”, the South African-born left hander said.
New Zealand immediately starts a three-match series against Pakistan.
Tillakaratne Dilshan, who made 28, was the only batsman other than Mathews to bat responsibly.
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“We just played bad batting out there”, Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal said.
