MUSCAT : Chamika Karunarathne (35 runs off 26 balls) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (35 runs off 21 balls) safely took Sri Lanka to a win by 5 wickets with 15 balls left after a sudden middle order collapse. Sri Lanka reached the 163 for the loss of 5 wickets in 17.3 overs.
Sri Lanka earlier won the toss and invited Oman to bat first. Aaqib Ilyas scored a valuable 60 runs off 38 balls supported by Kasyap Kumar (22 runs) and Ayaan Khan (20 runs) which helped Oman to set a target of 159 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. The pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers were Lahiru Kumara taking 2 for 20 and Chamika Karunarathne 2 for 39 runs.
Avishka Fernando (33 runs) and P.Nissanka (26 runs) batted well at the start of the chase. However, 3 quick wickets by Oman’s Kaleemullah (1 for 22) and Mohamed Nadeem (2 for 15) in the 9th & 10th over did cause chaos in the Sri Lankan batting.
An unbeaten 74 run partnership between Chamika Karunarathne and Bhanuka Rajapaksa permitted Sri Lanka to win the two match T 20 series with Oman, 2-0. (RZ)
