Sri Lanka through to the finals of the ICC world T20 through the Duckworth Lewis method ahead off West Indies by 27 runs at Dhaka.
The streets of Colombo were deserted with people of the paradise isle gathered around their TV sets in their homes and other public places to watch the Lankan Lions roar at the semi-finals and their heroes did just that in Bangladesh at a packed Dhaka stadium.
The men once again led by Lasith Malinga looked positive from the word go as the acting skipper won the toss and elected to take first lease of the wicket. The openers Tilekaratne Dilshan and ‘Little SANA’ Kusal Janith looked their old devastating form when they put on 41 off just 4 overs before Perera played a rash shot cutting outside the off stump to drag the ball onto the stumps with the score at 41-1.
Sri Lanka’s highest scorer of the tournament Mahela Jayawardane was in for a great disappointment when he was run out without even facing a single ball two deliveries. These two quick blows proved costly as the next batsman Kumar Sangakkara had to score runs and make sure he did not lose his wicket at the same time. Supporters felt the pressure miles away, and were devastated when Sangakkara too lost his wicket to a slightly tossed up delivery by Badree trying to chip a ball only to give a simple return catch. Sangakkara did not look too settled and comfortable at the wicket and ended up adding only 1 run to the score board.
Lahiru Thirimanne was the next man in and although this young lad from Moratuwa has been under-rated with many pundits saying his nature of play does not suit the 20-20 format, he proved all of them wrong as he scored 44 runs off 35 balls belting bowlers around the stadium scoring 3 fours and masterfully guiding 2 over the ropes to help Sri Lanka get hold of the match which was slowly slipping away from them.
The West Indians, bowled tight and fielded well, sticking to the basics and waiting for the batsmen to make a mistake and that is just what Thilakaratne Dilshan did when he pushed it to mid-off and immediately set off, and found himself half way down the pitch with Thirimanne uninterested. Simmons knocked over the stumps and Sri Lanka lost another batsman to a run out.
The brilliant 40 off 23 with 3 fours and 2 sixes by Angelo Matthews turned the game into respectability for the Lions who ended on 160 for 6 at the end of the allotted 20 overs.
West Indies had to score 161 runs off 20 overs at a run rate of 8.05 runs per over and well within the ability of the hard-hitting West Indian batting in the likes of Gayle, Samuels, Sammy, and Bravo
The first over by Kulesekara set the tone for things to come when he conceded 17 runs with Smith smacking a four and a huge Six. But the character of the Lankans came through as the skipper introduced spin and things went from calming down to clamping down as the Lions took a stranglehold on the game. They kept the dangerous Chris Gayle silent; the key being the tight line and length and not bowling to his strength and Malinga taking his leadership duties was very focussed to knock down Gaylle and Smith in the same over.
West Indies were 28/2 and the game well set up. The Windies batman were expecting toe crushers from Malinga but he was able to deliver good length deliveries to fox the batsmen.
Skipper Malinga swapped around his bowlers and spin duo of Rangana Herath and Sachithra Senanayake kept a lid on things. Seekkuge Prasanna picked up Simmons with his first ball with a ‘quickie’ which slid on and hit Simmons plum in front to be given out lbw by the umpire.
It was Dwayne Bravo who has a strike rate of 120 in T20s and 174.57 at this year’s WC tournament who put on 30 off 24 balls and held the inning together for the men in maroon. Marlon Samuels was struggling to get off strike and Bravo took the challenge to move the scoreboared quickly and was caught brilliantly by Mahela Jayawardane at deep square leg diving forward full length to Kulasekara.
The Sri Lankan fielding was brilliant and purposeful with Dilshan leading the way. Malinga was also purposeful and setting his field and talking to his bowler unlike the previous match against New Zealand.
As the last ball of the 13th over was bowled the umpires called off play as the rains came down severly and the covers were on. Sri Lanka was 27 runs ahead of West Indies at this point according to the Duckworth Lewis method and the Dhaka stadium was hit by a hail storm and play was officially called off.
The last time these two team met at a T20 international was last year in Sri Lankan soil at the T20 world cup finals when West indies beat Sri Lanka and emerged champions of the years completion but, it was not so this time as Sri Lanka booked another final spot and the holders were forced to head home.
Chief Scores :
Sri Lanka: 160/6 in 20 overs (HDRL Thirimanne 44, AD Matthews 40, K Santokie 2 for 46)
West Indies: 80/4 in 13.5 overs (DJ Bravo 30, MN Samuels 13*, SL Malinga 2 for )
Player of the match: Angelo Mathews
Full Scorecard (Statistics from cricket365)
