An injured Angelo Mathews hit two sixes in the final over to lead Sri Lanka to their first win of their South Africa tour and keep the Twenty20 series alive.
Mathews (54 not out) appeared to hurt his ankle in the penultimate over but recovered to lead his team to a three-wicket victory with two balls to spare in Johannesburg.
After a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series and a defeat in the opening T20 at Centurion, Sri Lanka ended their losing streak and set up a decider in the third T20 international in Cape Town on Wednesday.
South Africa chose to bat after winning the toss but only Heino Kuhn (29) and Farhaan Behardien (27) had much luck against the Sri Lanka attack, who were led expertly by Lakshan Sandakan (4-23) and Isuru Udana (3-13).
The hosts managed just 113 b ut Sri Lanka made tough work of their chase, with Lungi Ngidi (4-19) removing Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis cheaply in the third over.
Niroshan Dickwella and Dinesh Chandimal (both 22) had some success but it was left to skipper Mathews to lead his team home before he ran out of partners.
When Thikshila de Silva departed for three, Sri Lanka required nine runs from eight balls with three wickets in hand.
They scampered a single off the next delivery, which saw Mathews suffer his injury, but he managed to limp a single off the last to keep the strike for the final over.
He skied the first shot towards deep mid-wicket where Kuhn was unable to hold what would have been a stunning catch, but the second and fourth deliveries both disappeared over the rope as Mathews completed his fifth T20I half-century in style.
Source: PA
