ABU DHABI : Super 12s – Sri Lanka may not have qualified for the Semi Finals but the young Sri Lankan team captained by Dasun Shanaka bow out in style with a terrific win against the defending world champions West Indies.
Sri Lanka got off to a fabulous start after being invited to bat by the West Indies. West Indies needed a big win today to have a slim chance of progressing to the Semi Finals.
Kusal Perera’s dry run in this series continued with only a score of 29 runs off 21 balls. Opener Pathum Nissanka together with Charith Asalanka batted with style and aggression to put together a partnership of 91 runs for the second wicket. There is so much hope for Sri Lankan Cricket with such amazing young talent. Sri Lanka was scoring at a run rate of 8.2 at the 10th over. Nissanka scored 51 runs off 41 balls but fell for a Bravo over in the 15th over. Asalanka continued his fire power against the Windies bowling to reach 68 off 41 balls and to bring the Sri Lankan score to 179 in the 18th over. Captain Dasun Shanaka also joined the party with a 25 run cameo off 14 balls to see Sri Lanka to 190 runs off their 20 overs for the loss of only 3 wickets. Only Andrea Russell was able to make some impact against the Sri Lankan batting picking up 2 for 33 runs.
Chasing the massive target Windies lost Gayle for just one run. Binura Fernando after surprising Gayle went on to pick up the wicket of Lewis also to have Windies reeling at 10 for 2 wickets in just the second over of the innings. Nicholas Pooran consolidated the innings and scored 46 runs off 34 balls. Although West Indies maintained the run rate, Sri Lankan bowlers were able to pick wickets at regular intervals to keep Windies on check. Chamika Karunaratne picked up two important wickets ( 2 for 26) of Chase and Andrea Russell. Hethmeyer kept striking the ball well and scored aggressively.
Hasaranga the leading bowler with 14 wickets in this tournament prior to todays match picked up the dangerous Windies skipper pollard to push down West Indies to 107/6 in the 14th over. Later on Wanindu bowled Bravo out also to take Sri Lanka more closer to a remarkable win. In the 17th over, West Indies needed 59 runs in the last 3 overs with Hethmeyer the only barricade for Sri Lanka. The last over was bowled by Dushmantha Chameera and Hethmeyer stood tall unbeaten with 81 runs. However, the target of 190 was daunting even for the defending champions. Sri Lanka won by 20 runs to end the Super 12s on a positive note. The defending champions will not be able to qualify for the semi finals but another match is pending.
Charith Asalanka has most runs in this tournament of 261 runs after today’s knock of 68 runs while Wanindu Hasaranga remains as the highest wicket taker in this tournament with a tally of 16 wickets now.
Charith Asalanka was named the player of the match. (RZ)
[Image credit icc-cricket.com]
