T20 Tri-series: Bowlers help Zimbabwe to its biggest-ever win over a full ICC member against Sri Lanka

Rawalpindi, Nov 21 (IANS) Left-arm pacer Brad Evans produced a brilliant spell of 4-0-9-3 while skipper Sikandar Raza shone with an all-round effort to help destroy Sri Lanka’s batting as Zimbabwe bowled out Sri Lanka for 95 and defended their total of 162/8 for a 67-run victory in the T20 Tri-series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium here on Thursday.

This is Zimbabwe’s biggest-ever victory over a full-fledged member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in T20 format. With this win, Zimbabwe has taken the top spot in the Tri-series table on net run-rate with two points (from two matches), the same as Pakistan from one match. This was Sri Lanka’s first match in the event.

Led by Evans and Richard Ngarava (2-15), the Zimbabwe bowlers came up with a devastating performance as all six of them figured among wickets, turning what initially looked like an easy target into a nightmare for Sri Lanka.

Electing to field first, Sri Lanka had restricted Zimbabwe to 162/8 in 20 overs, a modest total built on a 42-ball 49 by Brian Bennett (4×5, 6×1) and a 32-ball 47 by skipper Sikandr Raza (4×3,6×2).

Sri Lanka had made a good start and had Zimbabwe reeling at 40/2 before Bennett and Raza shared a 60-run partnership for the third wicket. Bennett fell to Hasaranga with the score 120, and Zimbabwe lost their way, losing wickets at regular intervals to be restricted for 162/8.

Chasing 163, Sri Lanka lost Pathum Nissanka on the fifth ball of the first over and Kusal Perera in the next over. They were 29/4 soon after the Power-play and failed to recover as they were bowled out for 95. Skipper Dasun Shanaka waged a lone battle with a 34 off 25 balls, hitting two fours and two sixes.

It was an abject surrender by the Sri Lankan batters as only Bhanuka Rajapaksa (11), besides Shanaka, reached double figures, as extras were the second-highest contribution to the score. They had themselves to blame, as most of them got out playing atrocious shots.

Evans grabbed the key wicket of Rajapaksa, cleaning him up with a straight one as the batter tried to hit out of trouble, Eshan Malinga, and Maheesh Theekshana. Ngarava took 2-15 while Sikandar Raza (1-23), Ryan Buri (1-8), Graeme Cremer (1-17), and Tinotenda Maposa (1-17) were the other wicket-takers for Zimbabwe in a memorable victory.

Brief scores:

Zimbabwe 162/8 in 20 overs (Brian Bennett 49, Sikandar Raza 47; Wanindu Hasaranga 3-32, Eshan Malinga 2-27) beat Sri Lanka 95 all out in 20 overs (Dasun Shanaka 34; Brad Evans 3-9, Richard Ngarava 2-15, Sikandar Raza 1-23) by 67 runs.

–IANS

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