Hasaranga, Nissanka fire Sri Lanka to easy win

On Oct 20, 2021

Maiden half-centuries from Pathum Nissanka and Wanindu Hasaranga helped Sri Lanka pull off a massive 70-run victory over Ireland in their ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup first round Group ‘A’ match played in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates yesterday.

The pair rescued Sri Lanka from a precarious position of eight for three with a fourth wicket stand of 123 runs to steer their side to a more competitive 171 for seven after being invited to bat first.

Ireland in reply, never looked like causing a threat to the Lankans as they were undone by some splendid bowling spearheaded by mystery spinner Mahesh Theekshana.

Earlier, Hasaranga, who was promoted to number five in the batting order, launched a magnificent counterattack after seamer Josh Little had removed Dinesh Chandimal and Avishka Fernando in successive deliveries. Player-of-the-Match Hasaranga made his intentions clear as he struck four successive boundaries in the last over of the powerplay and raced to his fifty in 38 deliveries. In contrast, Nissanka played a more solid innings and kept his end occupied before he was dismissed for a superb 61 in the penultimate over.

Despite a late order collapse, Sri Lanka made sure they finished the innings with a flourish as Dasun Shanaka smashed an unbeaten 21 from 11 balls.

Chief scores

Sri Lanka: 171/7 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 61, Wanindu Hasaranga 71, Dasun Shanaka 21 n.o, Josh Little 4/23, Mark Adair 2/35)

Ireland: 101 in 18.3 overs (Andy Balbirnie 41, Curtis Campher 24, Chamika Karunaratne 2/27, Lahiru Kumara 2/22, Mahesh Theekshana 3/17). (Agencies)