Hasaranga best figures hands SL 2-0 series win
2024.01.12
In all men’s ODIs, those are the fifth-best bowling numbers.
Zimbabwe 96 in 22.5 overs (Joylord Gumbie 29; Wanindu Hasaranga 7-19) lost to Sri Lanka 97/2 in 16.4 overs (Kusal Mendis 66*) by 8 wickets
In the rain-shortened match against Zimbabwe on Thursday at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka easily defeated the hosts by eight wickets, spearheaded by career-best figures of 7 for 19 from Wanindu Hasaranga.
Zimbabwe was bowled out for 96 in the 27-over-a-side match, a score that the hosts quickly recovered from in 16.4 overs to win the three-match series 2-0.
Zimbabwe chose to bat first and got off to a solid start. Joylord Gumbie and Takudzwanashe Kaitano, the openers, added 43 runs in 9 overs before the latter became Hasaranga’s first victim, top-edging a sweep to short fine. That let a lot of water flow.
He captured Craig Ervine and Gumbie legbefore in the leggie’s subsequent over. Milton Shumba became his fourth victim in his third over, this time stranded in front of the stumps. Soon after joining the group, Maheesh Theekshana and Janith Liyanage also took out their respective targets as the Zimbabwean batsmen attempted to attack them. Zimbabwe lost seven wickets and amassed just twenty-four runs in fifty deliveries.
After a period of resistance from Luke Jongwe and Wellington Masakadza, the hosts were eventually bowled out in only 22.5 overs by Hasaranga, who kept tearing through the line-up.
As a result, Sri Lanka lost their first over with opener Avishka Fernando for a four-ball duck, although they faced minimal opposition in the chase. Shevon Daniel, the other opener, had trouble getting going as well, but Kusal Mendis’s easy goals came from the other end. The skipper of Sri Lanka amassed an undefeated fifty-six off fifty balls with nine boundaries and a six.Sadeera Samarawickrama provided excellent assistance as he amassed 73 runs for the second wicket with Daniel, his secondary partner, and went on to score an undefeated 14 off only 17 balls.
