Sri Lanka opened their campaign for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 Cricket World Cup with a smashing seven wicket victory over Namibia in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates yesterday.
Sri Lanka’s victory was fashioned by their bowlers following a clinical performance on the field where they skittle out the opposition for a mere 96 runs in 19.3 overs.
After electing to field first, the Lankans got their act together well from the start and conceded only 30 runs during the mandatory powerplay overs while picking up the two openers cheaply.
However, Namibia made a partial recovery through Craig Williams and Skipper Gerhard Erasmus with both batsmen shaping up well for a big score.
But Sri Lanka struck to their task beautifully and captured wickets at regular intervals through their pace-spin combination of Mahesh Theekshana and Lahiru Kumara.
After dismissing both openers inside the first six overs, Player-of-the-Match Theekshana proved to be the most successful bowler as he finished with splendid figures of three for 25.
However, Kumara was the most economical bowler for Sri Lanka with his 3.3 overs costing him a mere nine runs for a couple of wickets while Wanindu Hasaranga claimed two for 24.
Sri Lanka’s run chase began rather disastrously with both openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera returning to the dressing room inside the first three overs.
Sri Lanka fell into more trouble when Dinesh Chandimal departed in the sixth over to leave the former champions struggling at 26 for three.
However, Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa rescued Sri Lanka from further jitters with an unfinished fourth wicket stand of 74 runs.
The latter finished off things in style with his second six of the innings as he remained unbeaten on 42 from 27 balls inclusive of four boundaries.
Chief scores
Namibia: 96 in 19.3 overs (Craig Williams 29, Gerhard Erasmus 20, Mahesh Theekshana 3/25, Lahiru Kumara 2/9, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/24)
Sri Lanka: 100/3 in 13.3 overs (Avishka Fernando 30 n.o, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 42 n.o). (Agencies)
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