Sri Lanka 6-160 (Lahiru Thirimanne 44, Angelo Mathews 40, Tillakaratne Dilshan 39, Krishmar Santokie 2-46) beat West Indies 4-80 in 13.5 overs (Dwayne Bravo 30, Marlon Samuels 18, Lasith Malinga 2-5) by 27 runs (Duckworth/Lewis Method)
The Lankan Lions well led by Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne followed by a deadly bowling spell by Lasith Malinga conquered the Windies in the semi final.
The Islanders hammered 160 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs and the Caribbeans were restricted to 4-80 after 13.5 overs when the game was called off due to heavy rain.
Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his attacking innings.
The ICC World T20 – 1st Semi-Final was played on Thursday, April 3, 2014, at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.
Earlier, Lasith Malinga, the captain of the Islanders, won the toss opted to bat first but lost three wickets at 49 in 6.2 overs. Lahiru Thirimanne and Tillakaratne Dilshan tried to consolidate the innings and were successful in taking the score to 91. The latter was run out at that point for 39 and was replaced by Angelo Mathews. The run rate became better and they accumulated 30 runs for the fifth wicket when Thirimanne was gone for 44. Mathews took over from there and scored 40 quickfired runs off 23 balls with 2 lofty sixes and 3 fours.
Krishmar Santoki was the leading wicket taker with two whereas Samuel Badree and Andre Russell held one each.
The Caribbeans got off in a defensive manner and were unable to force the pace. They found it hard to score the runs freely and ultimately went down by three wickets at 34 in 7.1 overs. Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith and Lendl Simmons went back to the pavilion for 3, 17 and 4 runs respectively. Dwayne Bravo along with Marlon Samuels joined together but were unable to follow the target as required due to excellent bowling form the rival bowlers. They crept to 77 when the first surrendered his wicket for 30 off 19 with 1 six and 3 fours. Samuels was unbeaten at 18 when the game was taken over by rain as West Indies managed 4-80 with 37 balls remaining.
Lasith Malinga was the star performer with two wickets for just 2 runs whereas Nuwan Kulasekara and Seekkuge Prasanna shared one wicket each.
Sri Lanka grabbed the encounter by 27 runs as per D/L method and will appear in the final of the tournament on April 6, 2014, at the same venue.
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