Watch cricket video highlights of Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand 2024. First Twenty/20 between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Venue of the match will be Mount Maunganui.
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In the first Twenty20 International, New Zealand won by eight runs, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. It was a robbery for the books at Mount Maunganui. More significantly, though, it was a lesson in fighting from the hosts that the visitors would be wise to remember. For a large portion of the match, Sri Lanka appeared to be losing. In the first, Sri Lanka was cruising after a 121-run opening partnership that required just 52 off 40 deliveries, while in the second, New Zealand was reeling on 65 for 5 halfway through their innings.
Both times, New Zealand put up a fierce fight back, first with a 105-run partnership between Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell to post a respectable 172 for 8, and then with a late strangle that cost Sri Lanka eight wickets for 38 runs after they had complete control of the game. With a three-wicket 14th over, Jacob Duffy was at the center of the collapse and laid the stage for a spectacular New Zealand recovery, winning player of the match. But when it comes to trying to explain how they let this game slip, Sri Lanka will be at a loss for words.
By all accounts, Sri Lanka believed they had done enough. In most situations, a 121-run opening stand in pursuit of 173 would have been more than sufficient. After all, Sri Lanka needed just 52 more runs off 40 deliveries with nine wickets remaining when Kusal Mendis was out for a quick 46. Indeed, as Duffy ensured that Kusal Perera and Kamindu Mendis followed Kusal to the dressing room, three balls later, the equation shifted to 52 required with seven wickets remaining. Surely not, though?
As Charith Asalanka chipped away in the middle alongside Pathum Nissanka, nerves were somewhat calmed. However, further questions began to arise when he tumbled with 28 still needed off 16. All uncertainty was then dispelled when Matt Henry dismissed Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Nissanka in a series of deliveries. Wanindu Hasaranga was the only player who could be relied upon to hit the necessary boundaries, as Sri Lanka required 19 off 8. The game ended disastrously for Sri Lanka when Hasaranga was run out in the last over without facing a ball.
After the first ten overs, Mitchell Santner’s worries about a “green tinge” on the pitch after being sent in to bat appeared to be justified as New Zealand faltered to 65 for 5. Despite never exceeding 130 kph, Binura Fernando, who was playing in his first Twenty20 International in nine months, was the most productive of Sri Lanka’s three seamers. Despite bowling primarily on a fair length or somewhat farther back, he had excellent control and found steady movement in the air.
The wickets of Tim Robinson and Rachin Ravindra were just rewards, and he could have had another had Charith Asalanka not spilled Mark Chapman at mid-off. Before Hasaranga’s double-strike in the tenth over solidified Sri Lanka’s early supremacy, Binura’s initial burst of three overs went for just 12 runs. If Sri Lanka had the first half of the innings, then New Zealand had the second half. In the 14th over, Bracewell showed that he was ready to change things up by hitting two boundaries off Maheesh Theekshana.
An over later, he unleashed on an off-colour Matheesha Pathirana, with a flicked six into the grass banks and a monster loft over wide long-off being the highlights of a 22-run over. From then on, Bracewell’s strength was evident as Hasaranga and Binura were both taken for maximums in the next overs. Additionally, Mitchell and his partner hit in unison, even reaching their individual fifties off successive deliveries, so Sri Lanka would not have any rest at the other end either.
Between overs 10 and 20, 107 runs were scored in total, 85 of which came from the six-over stretch from 13 to 19. Theekshana’s outstanding last over, in which three wickets were lost for only three runs, was the only thing that held New Zealand below 180. Pathirana had a rough day at the job with four overs for 60 runs and one wicket, but the three no-balls (and the ensuing free hits) will undoubtedly be driving Sri Lanka’s coaching staff crazy. It will be especially annoying that one of those took Mitchell’s wicket when he was on eight.
Considering Binura’s success by hitting the deck harder and Pathirana’s own success with similar lengths in the past, it was unexpected that Pathirana likewise had trouble finding an effective length and consistently bowled broader than optimal.
