Sri Lanka got off to a winning start in ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier as they defeated UAE by 175 runs in their first game of the tournament, played today (19th June) at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo.
UAE Skipper Muhammad Waseem won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to take first lease of the wicket.
Sri Lanka’s pace spearhead Dushmantha Chameera was unable to make it into the playing XI as he was declared unfit ahead of this encounter.
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Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis(w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara
United Arab Emirates (Playing XI): Muhammad Waseem(c), Ali Naseer, Vriitya Aravind(w), Rohan Mustafa, Basil Hameed, Asif Khan, Rameez Shahzad, Aayan Afzal Khan, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Muhammad Jawadullah
Sri Lankan opening pair Karunaratne and Nissanka got off to a solid start, putting on 95-run stand for the first wicket.
Karunaratne once again showed his class, notching up a fluent half-century, which is his 3rd consecutive half-century in ODIs. Nissanka struggled early on, but he too managed to reach the milestone.
Middle order pair Mendis and Samarawicrama also managed to cash in, as the duo stitched together a century stand for the 3rd wicket. The pair scored at a healthy rate and were dismissed in their 70s.
The UAE bowlers picked up three wickets in three overs from the 45th over, but Asalanka and Hasaranga smashed 49 runs in the last three overs to get Sri Lanka past the 350-run mark.
Chasing a massive target of 356 was a tough ask for the UAE batters, especially against the Sri Lankan bowling attack, which has plenty of variety.
There were a few UAE batters who managed to get good starts, but none of them could convert those to substantial knocks. Though the UAE top order got off to a decent start, the introduction of Hasaranga halted them.
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Hasaranga, Sri Lanka’s ace spinner, was too hot for the UAE batters to handle as he produced a magical spell of 6 wicket for 24 runs, his career-best figures in ODI Cricket.
Altogether, the Sri Lankan spinners picked up 8 out of the 10 wickets to fall as UAE suffered their third biggest defeat in ODIs in terms of runs.
Sri Lanka will take on Oman in their second game of the Group Stage of ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier on the 23rd of June in Bulawayo.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | b Basil Hameed | 57 | 76 | 5 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | lbw b Aayan Afzal Khan | 52 | 54 | 7 | 0 | 96.30 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Ethan D’Souza b Ali Naseer | 78 | 63 | 10 | 0 | 123.81 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | run out (Vriitya Aravind) | 73 | 64 | 9 | 0 | 114.06 |
| Charith Asalanka | not out | 48 | 23 | 5 | 2 | 208.70 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Muhammad Jawadullah b Ali Naseer | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | lbw b Rohan Mustafa | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | not out | 23 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 191.67 |
| Extras | 18 (b 5 , lb 8 , nb 0, w 5, pen 0) |
| Total | 355/6 (50 Overs, RR: 7.1) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-95 (16.6) Dimuth Karunaratne, 2-138 (26.1) Pathum Nissanka, 3-243 (39.2) Kusal Mendis, 4-287 (44.3) Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5-292 (45.3) Dasun Shanaka, 6-297 (46.2) Dhananjaya de Silva, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muhammad Jawadullah | 7 | 0 | 55 | 0 | 7.86 | |
| Ali Naseer | 10 | 1 | 44 | 2 | 4.40 | |
| Zahoor Khan | 8 | 0 | 72 | 0 | 9.00 | |
| Rohan Mustafa | 7 | 0 | 55 | 1 | 7.86 | |
| Aayan Afzal Khan | 10 | 0 | 52 | 1 | 5.20 | |
| Karthik Meiyappan | 5 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 9.00 | |
| Basil Hameed | 3 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 6.33 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muhammad Waseem | c Charith Asalanka b Wanindu Hasaranga | 39 | 48 | 5 | 1 | 81.25 |
| Rohan Mustafa | c & b Lahiru Kumara | 12 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Vriitya Aravind | lbw b Dhananjaya de Silva | 39 | 55 | 3 | 0 | 70.91 |
| Basil Hameed | lbw b Wanindu Hasaranga | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Asif Khan | lbw b Wanindu Hasaranga | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 114.29 |
| Rameez Shahzad | b Wanindu Hasaranga | 26 | 43 | 2 | 0 | 60.47 |
| Ali Naseer | b Mahesh Theekshana | 34 | 32 | 3 | 1 | 106.25 |
| Aayan Afzal Khan | b Wanindu Hasaranga | 5 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 29.41 |
| Karthik Meiyappan | run out (Mahesh Theekshana) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Zahoor Khan | not out | 6 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 54.55 |
| Muhammad Jawadullah | b Wanindu Hasaranga | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 11 (b 0 , lb 5 , nb 0, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 180/10 (39 Overs, RR: 4.62) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-36 (5.3) Rohan Mustafa, 2-82 (16.1) Muhammad Waseem, 3-82 (16.4) Basil Hameed, 4-94 (18.3) Asif Khan, 5-119 (24.2) Vriitya Aravind, 6-167 (32.6) Ali Naseer, 7-170 (34.1) Rameez Shahzad, 8-170 (34.3) Karthik Meiyappan, 9-180 (38.5) Aayan Afzal Khan, 10-180 (38.6) Muhammad Jawadullah, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kasun Rajitha | 6 | 0 | 35 | 1 | 5.83 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 6 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 4.33 | |
| Mahesh Theekshana | 10 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 4.30 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 5 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 4.40 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 8 | 1 | 24 | 6 | 3.00 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 4 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 6.25 | |
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