164/8 (20.0)
CR : 8.20
172/8 (20.0)
CR : 8.60
New Zealand won by 8 runs 🏆
Player of the Match
Jacob Duffy
3/21
19.6
1
Z Foulkes to B Fernando
NEW ZEALAND WIN BY 8 RUNS! Very full and angling into off, Binura cracks it to mid-off and can only get a single. The New Zealand bowlers have pulled a rabbit out of the hat to win this match!
Over 20
Sri Lanka 164/8
Matheesha Pathirana0(1)
Binura Fernando4(4)
Zak Foulkes2-41(4.0)
NZ won by 8 runs
3:34 PM IST, 11:04 PM Local Time | New Zealand win a thriller in the first T20I to defeat Sri Lanka by 8 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the series! Sri Lanka lost 8 wickets for 43 runs to lose the plot in this chase!
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowled first, and their bowlers vindicated that decision in the first 10 overs leaving New Zealand reeling at 65/5! However, the duo of Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell forged a 106-run partnership for the 6th wicket to help New Zealand establish 172/8 at the end of their 20 overs.
Daryl Mitchell scored 62 runs off 42 balls. While, Michael Bracewell notched up 59 runs off 33 balls! Binura Fernando was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka with the figures of 2/22 from his 4 overs. Maheesh Theekshana ended the innings with a double-wicket over to register 2/29 from his 4 overs.
Come the chase, Sri Lankan openers had a cautious start in the early exchanges but they soon exploded into life registering 58/0 at the end of the powerplay! Eventually, the duo registered Sri Lanka's 1st T20I opening century partnership in 121 innings to break the back of this chase!
New Zealand were not about to back down without a fight. Jacob Duffy turned up the heat in the 14th over, and broke the opening partnership with 121 runs on the board and followed it up with 2 more wickets in the same over! He eventually finished with 3/21 from 4 overs.
There was still the threat of Patthum Nissanka for the Kiwis and they managed to get rid of him for 90 runs off 60 balls via Matt Henry to put Sri Lanka under massive pressure! Sri Lanka's middle order failed to respond to the Kiwi pacers as no batter entered double digits to trigger the collapse and hand victory to the home side! Sri Lanka went from 121/0 in 13.2 overs to 164/8 at the end of their 20 overs.
The story of the game was pretty much the same with Sri Lanka dominating the first 10 overs of both innings and New Zealand roaring back into the game in the back 10! The Kiwis just held their nerves enough to secure the win in the first T20I!
Time for the post match presentation..
Player of the Match: Jacob Duffy
Jacob Duffy (Player of the Match): "It's great to win, there was a big opening partnership and I just tried to bring up the mid-wicket fielder to create something and it came off. We played alot in Asia recently, so it was good to back in familiar conditions and get some pace and bounce."
Charith Asalanka (Sri Lanka Captain): "I am very disappointed with the results and we should have done better. Patthum Nissanka batted really well and apart from him everyone should take responsibility for this loss. I think we have to come back really well.
We could have done better in bowling and fielding but when our opponents were batting I thought chasing this will be really easy. That's what we want to do and come back well in the next game."
We could have done better in bowling and fielding but when our opponents were batting I thought chasing this will be really easy. That's what we want to do and come back well in the next game."
Mitchell Santner (New Zealand Captain): "Game of two halves. Was set up by Daryl (Daryl Mitchell) and Beast (Michael Bracewell). Their left-arm seamer (Binura Fernando) bowled well but when you lose wickets in clumps it's hard to get starts.
Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell got a massive partnership for us. Soaked up the pressure and put it back on them to get us to a pretty good score.
Kusal Mendis has done it a lot against us, Pathum Nissanka also played very well.
We were thinking can we try to take wickets? The run rate was around eights, but some aggressive bowling with aggressive fields, Duff (Jacob Duffy) changed the game."
Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell got a massive partnership for us. Soaked up the pressure and put it back on them to get us to a pretty good score.
Kusal Mendis has done it a lot against us, Pathum Nissanka also played very well.
We were thinking can we try to take wickets? The run rate was around eights, but some aggressive bowling with aggressive fields, Duff (Jacob Duffy) changed the game."
Well that's it from the first T20I folks! Hop tabs to join our LIVE coverage of the rest of the games from the cricketing world!
I am Anirudh Modi, signing off along with my co-commentator Karthik Raj, and our scorer/analyst Ghanendra Singh Thakur! See you on the next one!
I am Anirudh Modi, signing off along with my co-commentator Karthik Raj, and our scorer/analyst Ghanendra Singh Thakur! See you on the next one!