Rangana Herath bowled the best spell of his life when he casted magic in Chittagong to help Sri Lanka crush New Zealand by 59 runs and qualify for the 1st semi-final on April 3rd in Dhaka.
Herath playing his first game of the tournament in the expense of dew-ruined Ajantha Mendis, bowled good old left arm spin to bundle out the mighty New Zealanders for a mere 60 runs in their chase of 120 runs. Rangana Herath bowled 21 balls and 18 deliveries were not scored as he took 5 wickets conceding only 3 runs finding a gratitude filled nation at his feet.
New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to take the first lease on a slow and turning surface. Sri Lanka’s dashing opening batsman Kusal Janith Perera got off to a flying start but was given out caught behind unfortunately by umpire Aleem Dar when the Sri Lanka score was only 20 runs in the second over. Experienced campaigners TM Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara found Chittagong wicket difficult to bat on as they crumbled to the pace of New Zealand fast bowlers playing rash shots putting Sri Lanka in much trouble at 35 for 3 wickets.
Mahela Jayawardene and Lahiru Thirimanne made slow 20s to revive the Sri Lanka innings as the New Zealand bowlers landed on perfect areas to trouble the Lankan batters. Lahiru Thirimanne lost his wicket when he tried to loft the ball over the deep extra cover fielder but failed to clear the fence as Sri Lanka were restricted to 65 for 4 inside 12 overs. Sri Lanka’s test and ODI skipper Angelo Mathews could not stick long as he was caught behind for 6 runs and Sri Lanka’s top runs scorer Mahela Jaywardene followed Angelo’s footsteps to the dugout when he was clean bowled trying to paddle sweep Nathan McCullum after scoring 25 runs in 32 balls.
Thisara Perera and Sachithra Senanayake stroked few lusty blows in the end to give Sri Lanka some total to defend but they were dismissed cheaply as New Zealand bowlers led by Trent Boult bundled out the strong Sri Lanka batting lineup to 119 with four balls remaining. Left arm seamer Trent Boult was the pick of the bowlers capturing 3 wickets for 20 runs while Jimmy Neesham scalped three wickets giving away 22 runs.
The Sri Lankan batsman were unable to handle the disciplined bowling effort by the black caps as New Zealanders used the tactic of banging it short of good length to manipulate the good bowling conditions.
Chasing 120 runs to pocket their ticket to Dhaka for semi-finals, New Zealand got off to a cautious start until the end of 3rd over. Brave skipper Lasith Malinga brought his trump card Rangana Herath to bowl in the 4th over and he was instrumental in running out Martin Guptil in the first ball of his spell.
Herath gave no breathing space to New Zealand captain and number 3 batsman Brendon McCullum as he bowled four beautiful left arm spinners and McCullum was tempted enough to go for the big heave over mid-wicket but the spin of Herath caught skipper McCullumn short of his crease as Sangakkara flipped the bails off to put New Zealand in some hazard.
Bowling his second over, the spin ace took the wickets of Ross Taylor and Jimmy Neesham in successive deliveries as he bamboozled the two batsmen with his charmed left arm tricksters. Luke Ronchi was no harm for Sri Lanka as he was Herath’s fourth victim as left arm conjurer put jitters in the New Zealand camp restricting them to 29 for 5.
Lasith Malinga was the captain on paper, but it was heart-warming to see the two senior statesmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene handling the team in the middle with the fierce intent of winning this game to stay alive in the tournament. Sri Lankan pressurized the New Zealanders with attacking field settings which was rare in T20 cricket.
Sachithra Senanayake continued the senior man’s good work as he too bowled a good spell of spin bowling extracting much assistance from a dying Chittagong pitch. Sachithra got the wickets of dangerous Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills as New Zealand were almost certain of returning home. Opening batsman Kane Williamson played a terrific knock under pressure as he mustered 42 runs in 43 balls with 6 boundaries but he was run out in the 16th over putting the final nail in the coffin for the Kiwis. Rangana Herath fittingly took the final wicket of Trent Boult handing Sri Lanka an incredible 59 runs victory.
Chief Scores:
Sri Lanka: 119/10 in 19.2 overs (Jayawardene 25, HDRL Thirimanne 20 ; TA Boult 3 for 20, DS Neesham 3 for 22)
New Zealand: 60/10 in 15.3 overs (KS Williamson 42; HMRKB Herath 5 for 3)
Player of the match – Rangana Herath
Full Scorecard (Statistics from cricket365)
