Sri Lanka 119 (Mahela Jayawardene 25, Lahiru Thirimanne 20, Trent Boult 3-20, Jimmy Neesham 3-22) beat New Zealand 60 (Kane Williamson 42, Martin Guptill 5, Rangana Herath 5-3, Sachithra Senanayake 2-3) by 59 runs.
Rangana Herath crippled the unpredictable batting line up of the Kiwis as the Islanders defended a small looking total and qualified for the semi-final spot.
The Lankan Lions scored 119 runs before their innings was rolled back in 19.2 overs and the innings of the Black Caps was rolled back for 60 mere runs with 27 balls remaining.
Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his historical bowling spell of 5 for 3 mere runs.
The ICC World T20 – 30th Match, Group 1, was held on Monday, March 31, 2014, at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong.
Earlier, Brendon McCullum, the skipper of the Black Caps, won the toss and invited the Lankan Lions to bat first. The decision paid off instantly when three top order batsmen of the Islanders surrendered at 35 in 5.6 overs. Lahiru Thirimanne and Mahela Jayawardene got together at the crease, they tried to mend the early loss and crept to 65 in the next 5.1 overs when first left the scene for 20. The wickets kept on sliding and Jayawardene became the sixth victim for 25. Thisara Perera and Sachithra Senanayake contributed 16 and 17 runs respectively while the entire Sri Lanka side was bowled out for 119 with four balls to spare.
Trent Boult and Jimmy Neesham were the top wicket taker with three each, Mitchell McClenaghan got two whereas Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum shared one wicket each.
The Kiwis were in trouble straight away as they went down by two wickets at 18. That was the start of the disaster for the Black Caps who were unable to face the deadly spin bowling. Rangana Herath became unplayable and was breaking the rival wickets with his mysterious bowling regularly. Kane Williamson was the only batsman who defended nicely and in fact, was the only one who entered the double figures. He was finally run out for 42 and New Zealand was bowled out for just 60 runs with 27 balls still in hand.
Rangana Herath was the star performer with 5 wickets and Sachithra Senanayake held two.
Sri Lanka clinched the important encounter with a vast margin of 59 runs and reached the semi final.
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