Sri Lanka 7-165 (Kusal Perera 61, Angelo Mathews 43, Imran Tahir 3-26) beat South Africa 8-160 (Jean-Pual Duminy 39, Quinton de Kock 25, Sachithra Senanayake 2-22) by five runs.
The Lankan Lions continued their recent dominance in Bangladesh with the assistance of Kusal Perera and their bowlers as they beat the Proteas in a close game.
Sri Lanka amassed 165 runs with three wickets remaining in 20 overs and South Africa was restricted to 160 for the loss of eight wickets.
Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his outstanding knock of 61 from 40 balls.
The ICC World T20 – 14th match, Group 1, was played on Saturday, March 22, 2014, at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong.
Earlier, Dinesh Chandimal, the skipper of the Islanders, won the toss and elected to bat first. Kusal Perera opened up brilliantly but two batsmen at the other end were gone cheaply at 42. He smashed his fifth T20 fifty on the 29th ball as Kumar Sangakkara lost his wicket at 83 for 14 and was replaced by Angelo Mathews. Perera went next as the total touched 106 in 13.3 overs after contributing 61 off 40 deliveries with 3 huge sixes and 6 fours. Mathews scored 43 from 32 comprising 1 six and 3 fours as his team powered 7-165 after 20 overs.
Imran Tahir was the highest wicket taker with three whereas Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel got two each.
Quinton de Kock along with Hashim Amla started off nicely by getting 31 runs in four overs while the first was clean bowled by Lasith Malinga at 32 for 25. Jean-Paul Duminy walked in next and got off briskly with regular boundaries as Amla became the next victim at 82 after scoring 23. The captain of South Africa, AB de Villiers managed 24 runs and Duminy became the fourth victim for 39. The Proteas were reeling at 4-119 when the Lankan Lions bowlers took over the game and penetrated through the rival batting line up who finally reached at 8-160 in 20 overs.
Sachithra Senanayake was the top wicket taker with two whereas Nuwan Kulasekara, Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis shared one wicket each.
Sri Lanka clinched their first encounter with a margin of five runs and earned two points.
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