211/8 (49.0)
CR : 4.31
208/10 (44.4)
CR : 4.66
Sri Lanka won by 2 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
Janith Liyanage
0/1195(127)
22:50 IST and Local Time | We just saw a nail-biting encounter and it is the home side, Sri Laka who clinched the victory in the end. Rain break, lots of drama and calculations were there but the Sri Lankan batting tail helped their team to have the last laugh!
After coming to bat first, winning the toss, the Zimbabwe side lost their opener Tinashe Kamunhukamwe for a golden duck. But just after that, Craig Ervine and Joylord Gumbie steadied the ship. Gumbie scored 30 runs off 37 balls and registered a partnership of 60 runs. After his dismissal, Milton Shumba came in and partnered Ervine at the crease. Shumba added 26 runs to the team total and he got out. Sikandar Raza didn't contribute much and departed early. Then Ryan Burl and Ervine had put up another fifty run partnership and Ervine got out for 82. It was Sadeera Samarawickrama's brilliance in the field that helped Lankan side to get rid of Ervine (82). Just after Ervine's dismissal, entire lower middle order of Zimbabwe fell like a pack of cards. They lost their last 6 wickets in just 26 runs and Zimbabwe got all out for 208.
Maheesh Theekshana was the star of the bowlers with 4 wickets beside his name. Jeffrey Vandersay and Dushmantha Chameera took a couple of wickets each and a solitary wicket was taken by Dilshan Madushanka.
Coming to chase the run, Sri Lanka lost Avishka Fernando and Sadeera Samarawickrama cheaply. They both got out for 4. But Kusal Mendis, who survived a dismissal because of a no-ball in the very first ball of his innings, took the responsibility with the youngster Janith Liyanage. They both started playing very watchfully and registered a 35 run partnership between them. A rain interruption came after the 13th over and just after the play resumed, Mendis got out by Richard Ngarava. But Liyanage did not loose his patience. He lost his partners like Charith Asalanka, Sahan Arachchige and the well experienced Dasun Shanaka but continued to keep his team's hope alive with the tail-enders. He reached to his half-century by 85 balls and started giving counter attack to the Zimbabwe spinners. He got some support from Maheesh Theekshana, who scored 18 runs off 31 balls. But when his team needed 37 runs and the drizzle came back, he got into the pressure of DLS par score and handed a simple catch to the mid-off fielder. He got out for 95 off 127 balls. But Dushmantha Chameera and Jeffrey Vandersay took their team home with a 39 run partnership between them. They kept their calm and safely reached the winning score.
For the visitors, Richard Ngarava was terrific picking up 5 wickets, giving away just 32 runs. Blessing Muzarabani took a wicket among the pacers. The experienced Sikandar Raza bowled tight lines and finishes with a bowling figure of 32 for 2 after his 10 over spell. But in this topsy-turvy encounter, Sri Lanka got better of them by a very small margin and hence won the game by 2 wickets and a solitary over remaining.
Stay tuned for the presentation ceremony.
After coming to bat first, winning the toss, the Zimbabwe side lost their opener Tinashe Kamunhukamwe for a golden duck. But just after that, Craig Ervine and Joylord Gumbie steadied the ship. Gumbie scored 30 runs off 37 balls and registered a partnership of 60 runs. After his dismissal, Milton Shumba came in and partnered Ervine at the crease. Shumba added 26 runs to the team total and he got out. Sikandar Raza didn't contribute much and departed early. Then Ryan Burl and Ervine had put up another fifty run partnership and Ervine got out for 82. It was Sadeera Samarawickrama's brilliance in the field that helped Lankan side to get rid of Ervine (82). Just after Ervine's dismissal, entire lower middle order of Zimbabwe fell like a pack of cards. They lost their last 6 wickets in just 26 runs and Zimbabwe got all out for 208.
Maheesh Theekshana was the star of the bowlers with 4 wickets beside his name. Jeffrey Vandersay and Dushmantha Chameera took a couple of wickets each and a solitary wicket was taken by Dilshan Madushanka.
Coming to chase the run, Sri Lanka lost Avishka Fernando and Sadeera Samarawickrama cheaply. They both got out for 4. But Kusal Mendis, who survived a dismissal because of a no-ball in the very first ball of his innings, took the responsibility with the youngster Janith Liyanage. They both started playing very watchfully and registered a 35 run partnership between them. A rain interruption came after the 13th over and just after the play resumed, Mendis got out by Richard Ngarava. But Liyanage did not loose his patience. He lost his partners like Charith Asalanka, Sahan Arachchige and the well experienced Dasun Shanaka but continued to keep his team's hope alive with the tail-enders. He reached to his half-century by 85 balls and started giving counter attack to the Zimbabwe spinners. He got some support from Maheesh Theekshana, who scored 18 runs off 31 balls. But when his team needed 37 runs and the drizzle came back, he got into the pressure of DLS par score and handed a simple catch to the mid-off fielder. He got out for 95 off 127 balls. But Dushmantha Chameera and Jeffrey Vandersay took their team home with a 39 run partnership between them. They kept their calm and safely reached the winning score.
For the visitors, Richard Ngarava was terrific picking up 5 wickets, giving away just 32 runs. Blessing Muzarabani took a wicket among the pacers. The experienced Sikandar Raza bowled tight lines and finishes with a bowling figure of 32 for 2 after his 10 over spell. But in this topsy-turvy encounter, Sri Lanka got better of them by a very small margin and hence won the game by 2 wickets and a solitary over remaining.
Stay tuned for the presentation ceremony.
Deepak: Sri Lanka won the match, but this innings has raised many questions for the hosts, and they need to fill those voids in their upcoming matches and series.
11:03 PM IST, Local Time: Time for the post-match presentation.
Player of the Match: Janith Liyanage
Janith Liyanage (Player of the Match): "The ball was moving a bit so I took my time to settle on the crease. The wicket was on the slower side and it was a bit tacky. Actually, it was raining at that time, and we were behind according to DLS so I thought to score a boundary over the mid-off but unfortunately ended up hitting it into the hands of mid-off."
Craig Ervine(Zimbabwe Captain)- "I thought we batted reasonably well but 230-240 would have been a better score. We lost a few wickets in the middle and I think that restricted us from reaching to a safe score. But we did well in the bowling to comeback. Richard took his first fifer today and there is no question about our bowling.
We have to do better in fielding and I think that's the key to comeback in the next game."
We have to do better in fielding and I think that's the key to comeback in the next game."
Kusal Mendis (Sri Lanka Captain): "Not too happy about the win looking at the way we battered but credit to the bowlers, who bowled really well. Happy with Janith Liyanage's performance. We will try to to put up a better show in the next game."
So that marks the end of our coverage from the second ODI of the ongoing series between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka took a 1-0 lead in the series by securing a victory in this nail-biter game!
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off on the behalf of my co-commentator Deepak Prakash and our scorer/analyst Yogesh Kumar. Good night, stay safe.
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off on the behalf of my co-commentator Deepak Prakash and our scorer/analyst Yogesh Kumar. Good night, stay safe.