Kiwis win series 2-1
Sri Lanka secured a thrilling 7-run victory in the last match of the 3-match T20 series against New Zealand. With the win, Sri Lanka saved themselves a clean sweep, although the Charith Aslanka-led side lost the series 2-1.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl in Nelson on Thursday. Sri Lanka scored 218 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. In response, the New Zealand team could score only 211 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs. Kusal Perera was the player of the match. He played an innings of 101 runs in 46 balls. While Jacob Duffin was selected Player of the Series. Duffy has taken 8 wickets.
Bad start for Sri Lanka, losing 2 wickets in powerplay
Sri Lanka got off to a poor start after losing the toss and coming into bat. In Powerplay, the team scored 49 runs in 6 overs and lost 2 wickets. Matt Henry sent Pathum Nisanka to the pavilion in the third over of the innings, while Mitchell Santner had Kusal Mendis caught by Michael Bracewell in the last ball of the fifth over. Nisanka was dismissed for 14 runs and Mendis for 22 runs.
Perera-Asalanka’s century partnership
After losing the third wicket at 83 runs in the middle overs, Kusal Perera (101 runs) shared a century partnership with captain Charith Aslanka (46 runs) for the fourth wicket. Both added 100 runs in 45 balls. He shared a 41-run partnership with Fernando for the third wicket. This partnership was broken by Jacob Duffy. He dismissed Fernando (17 runs) LBW.
Strong start for New Zealand, Rachin Ravindra’s fifty
Chasing the target of 219 runs, the New Zealand team got off to a strong start. Tim Robinson and Rachin Ravindra shared an opening partnership of 81 runs in 45 balls. The team scored 63 runs without loss in 6 overs in Powerplay.
Avishka Fernando broke the opening partnership. He had Robinson caught by substitute fielder Kamindu Mendis. Rachin Ravindra played an innings of 69 runs in 39 balls.
The Kiwis’ middle order failed
The middle order of the Kiwi team failed. The batters could not capitalize on the strong start. At one point the team scored 85 runs in 8 overs and lost only one wicket. But the team kept losing wickets from here. The team scored only 43 runs in the last 5 overs.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).