Sri Lanka kick started their ICC World T20 campaign in Bangladesh on a winning note when they registered a close 5 run win over South Africa in their group 1 encounter played at Chittagong International Stadium.
Sri Lanka after winning the toss batted first on a good surface. Sri Lanka lost opener Tillakaratne Dilshan for a golden duck in the 3rd over and Mahela Jayawardene skied a Morne Morkel delivery in the 5th over. Kusal Perera who has become a very successful opener for Sri Lanka kept scoring at will while the wicket at the other end tumbled around him. Sri Lanka’s newest batting sensation scored his 5th T20 International fifty and top scored for Sri Lanka with 61 runs in 40 balls with 6 boundaries and 3 maximums. Angelo Mathews also played a pivotal innings of 43 runs in 32 deliveries and Sri Lanka managed a challenging 165/7 in their allocated 20 overs. Imran Tahir displayed his variation quite effectively as he picked up three wickets in the middle overs while fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel scalped two wickets apiece.
Chasing 166, South Africa got off to a moderate start with Quinton De Kock making a solid 25 runs. The 50 run partnership for the 2nd wicket between Hashim Amla and JP Duminy saw South Africa nicely poised at 82/1 in 10.4 overs before Amla handed a simple catch at short mid-wicket off Sachithra Senanayake. JP Duminy and AB de Villiers then looked to cruise along and were scoring aggressively to put pressure on the Sri Lankan bowlers. Angelo Mathews was brought into the attack and he soon got the prize wicket of AB De Villiers and South Africa was 110/3 at the end of 14 overs. JP Duminy and Albie Morkel continued their attacking form of batting to inch closer to the victory but two mis-hits from the two left handers helped Sri Lanka get back into the driving seat with South Africa on 133/5 in the 17th over.
South Africa needed 19 runs from last two overs with David Miller and Farhaan Behardien in the middle. Nuwaan Kulasekara bowled a superb penultimate over under pressure giving away only 4 runs and sending back Farhaan Behardien caught in the deep by Jayawardena. Lasith Malinga one of the best death overs bowlers presently in the world, bowled the final over with South Africa needing 15 runs to victory. Lasith Malinga made no harm to his reputation as he bowled Sri Lanka to a 5 runs win with South Africans failing to score the 15 runs off ‘Slinga Malinga’.
Chief Scores:
Sri Lanka – 165/7 in 20 overs
South Africa – 160/8 in 20 overs
Match Result: Sri Lanka won by 5 runs.
Man of the Match: Kusal Janith Perera
Full Scorecard (Statistics from espncricinfo.com)
