ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates: Pathum Nissanka became the quickest Sri Lankan batter to reach 2,000 T20 runs as the opener sprinted his team to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in a crucial Asia Cup match on Saturday.
Nissanka perfectly manipulated the line and lengths of the Bangladeshi bowlers to score 50 off 34 balls and Sri Lanka breezed to 140-4 in a strong start to its campaign.
Bangladesh, which handed Hong Kong a seven-wicket drubbing in its first Group B game, recovered from a horror start to score 139-5 after it lost both openers to fast bowler Nuwan Thushara and Dushmantha Chameera’s successive wicket maidens with the new ball.
Nissanka batted fluently and scored six fours and a six as he reached the 2,000-run landmark in his 68th T20 innings when he completed his half century. Kusal Perera had the previous Sri Lanka record, achieving the feat in 76 innings.
Nissanka fell soon after his entertaining 95-run stand with Kamil Mishara (46 not out) had all but sealed the game, when Shoriful Islam held on to a spectacular two-handed catch at deep backward square leg.
Bangladesh had to pay a heavy price of dropping Mishra on 1 when Mahedi Hassan couldn’t hold on to a two-handed catch close to the 30-meter circle at wide mid-on. Although Perera and Dasun Shanaka also perished quickly while going for big shots, Mishara’s unbeaten knock of 32 balls ensured Sri Lanka finished off the game with more than five overs to spare.
Earlier, after being put into bat, Shamim Hossain (42) and Jaker Ali (41) helped Bangladesh recover from a disastrous start in the second half of their innings when they combined in a 86-run unbroken stand off 61 balls.
Wanindu Hasaranga made an impactful return to international cricket with figures of 2-25 after missing the last series against Zimbabwe due to a hamstring injury. The leg-spinner should have had the wicket of Jaker in his eventful second over only to see his sharp googly grazing the off stump after going through the defenses of the batter, but both bails stayed on the stumps.
Hasaranga’s sharp spinning deliveries and the twin strikes of Thushara and Chameera saw Bangladesh slump to 53-5 in the 10th over when captain Litton Das (28) was out leg before wicket while attempting reverse sweep against Hasaranga.
Chameera bowled some impressive yorkers in the death overs and finished with identical figures of 4-1-17-1 with Thushara. Shamim hit the lone six in Bangladesh’s otherwise defensive innings when he smacked the only off-color Sri Lanka bowler — Matheesha Pathirara (0-42) — over midwicket.
Sri Lanka sprints to six-wicket win over Bangladesh for crucial Asia Cup T20 win
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Sri Lanka sprints to six-wicket win over Bangladesh for crucial Asia Cup T20 win
- Nissanka perfectly manipulated the line and lengths of the Bangladeshi bowlers to score 50 off 34 balls
Samson and Bumrah star as India beat NZ to retain T20 World Cup title
- India become first team to win T20 World Cup three times
- New Zealand fall short of maiden World Cup
AHMEDABAD: India became the first team to retain the men’s Twenty20 World Cup title after handing out a 96-run demolition of New Zealand in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
India also became the first team to lift the title three times, while New Zealand’s wait for a maiden white-ball World Cup continues.
The victory will taste particularly sweet for India since it came at a venue where they were beaten by Australia in the final of the 50-overs World Cup three years ago.
Put in to bat, India capitalized on a 98-run opening stand between Sanju Samson (89) and Abhishek Sharma (52) to rack up 255-5.
Number three Ishan Kishan smashed 54 but James Neesham bowled a three-wicket over to apply the brakes on India’s scoring rate toward the end of the innings.
Chasing such a daunting target, New Zealand could not recover from a top-order collapse and were all out for 159 in 19 overs despite defiant knocks by Tim Seifert (52) and Mitchell Santner (43).
“This feels extremely special because I’ve played one final in my home venue but couldn’t win that one, but today I won,” said India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, whose 4-15 fetched him player of the match award.
“I knew the wicket was a flat one so had to use all my experience.”
Samson, who smashed his third successive 80-plus knock, was adjudged player of the tournament.
Earlier, wary of having to bowl with a hard-to-grip, dew-soaked ball later in the evening, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner elected to field.
New Zealand used four different bowlers in the first four overs but could not stop India from milking 92 without losing a wicket after the six powerplay overs.
BATTING CARNAGE
Rachin Ravindra dismissed Abhishek with his first ball to bring relief to the New Zealand camp, ending the opener’s 21-ball knock that included three sixes.
With Samson continuing in the same vein and Kishan joining him in a batting carnage, there was hardly any respite for New Zealand.
Both found boundaries with remarkable regularity as India reached the 200-mark in the 15th over.
Samson, who smacked Ravindra for three sixes in a row, was finally caught in the deep off James Neesham, who also removed Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in a three-wicket over.
India could not maintain the tempo after the departures of their set batters and yet comfortably breached the 250-mark.
New Zealand’s top order wilted early in their chase and they could never really recover after being reduced to 47-3 inside five overs. Finn Allen, who smashed a 33-ball hundred in the semifinal against South Africa, got a reprieve when Shivam Dube dropped him in the first over from Arshdeep Singh. Allen could not capitalize on it though, and holed out against spinner Axar Patel in the third over. Bumrah dismissed Ravindra with his first delivery and Axar got rid of Glenn Phillips to rattle New Zealand.
Stymied by lack of partnerships and faced with a spiralling required run-rate, Seifert had to go for the jugular but it did not pay off.
Spinner Varun Chakravarthy had Seifert caught in the deep as New Zealand lost the top half of their batting for 72 to effectively drop out of the hunt. Santner, dropped on 26, went on to make 43 but India had the match in the bag by then. (Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in Ahmedabad; Editing by David Holmes and Toby Davis)
