Sri Lanka 2-143 (Tillakaratne Dilshan 59*, Kusal Perera 57, Kumar Sangakkara 20*, Rob Nicol 1-18) beat New Zealand 7-142 (Luke Ronchi 34*, Anton Devcich 30, Thisara Perera 1-13) by eight wickets.
Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kusal Perera smashed fifties and guided Sri Lanka to a comfortable win against the Black Caps in the second Twenty20.
The Kiwis scored 142 runs with three wickets in hand in the allocated 20 overs and the Islanders amassed 143 for the loss of just two wickets with 13 balls remaining.
Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his aggressive knock of 57 off 37 mere balls.
The second and final Twenty20 was played on Thursday, November 21, 2013, at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
Earlier, Dinesh Chandimal, the captain of the home side won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. The Black Caps lost two early wickets at 14 when Anton Devcich and Tom Latham added 35 runs to the total as the first became the next victim for 30. Latham went back to the pavilion for 20 and the Kiwis were reeling at 5-93 in 14.4 overs. Luke Ronchi along with Nathan McCullum pushed up the scoring rate and took the score to 138 when the latter surrendered for 26. Ronchi remained unbeaten for 34 as New Zealand reached 7-142 in 20 overs.
Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Angelo Mathews, Ramith Rambukwella, Ajantha Mendis and Thisara perera shared one wicket each.
Mahela Jayawardene was declared leg before wicket off Mitchell McClenaghan for just three runs. Kusal Perera got together with Tillakaratne Dilshan and the first was dropped at six in the second over. Perera responded with 1 six and 4 fours in the next two overs, he got another chance at 40 and powered his 2nd T20 fifty. Dilshan kept on cruising at the other end while the second wicket partnership was broken at 104 in 13.1 overs. Kusal Perera was caught and bowled by Rob Nicol for 57 off 37 with 2 sixes and 6 fours. Kumar Sangakkara walked in next as Dilshan attained his 8th T20 half century in the process and secured his end for 59 off 49 with 8 fours. Sangakkara was at the other end at 20 as the Islanders rushed to 2-143 in 17.5 overs.
Sri Lanka grabbed the encounter with a huge margin of eight wickets and won the series 1-0.
Leave a Reply