Zimbabwe 182 for 4 (Bennett 63*, Raza 45, Hemantha 2-36) beat Sri Lanka 178 for 7 (Nissanka 62, Rathnayake 44, Cremer 2-27, Evans 2-35) by six wickets
One time is a shock. Two times, and the second to beat hosts Sri Lanka at their own game, is Zimbabwe. Led by their canny bowling, Zimbabwe pulled Sri Lanka back from a flying start to keep them to 178 on a sluggish Premadasa track. Their opener Brian Bennett, quickest scorer in their history, dropped anchor, stayed unbeaten like his team, and Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Tadiwanashe Marumani did all the damage from the other end to seal their second-highest successful T20I chase.
Sri Lanka's innings had three neat divisions: first 29 balls for 54 for 0, next 72 for 82 for 4 and then a finishing kick of 42 for 3 off the last 19 balls. Zimbabwe went Bennett and non-Bennett. Bennett scored 63 off 48; the other three combined for 102 off 64 balls. Raza was the decisive hand: 45 off 26 after the asking rate had gone past 11.
Nissanka continues good form
Fresh off a match-winning hundred, Pathum Nissanka got off the blocks running along with Kusal Perera. In the company of Kusal Mendis, he took Sri Lanka past 50 in the fifth over. Zimbabwe did try to deny them pace by bowling two overs of spin in the first four, but Raza and Wellington Masakadza were not as accurate and menacing as some of the more established spinners.
Zimbabwe pull things back
Once Blessing Muzarabani got rid of Perera with a slower short ball at the end of the fifth over, the game changed. Kusal Mendis played a strange innings of little intent and 14 off 20, during which Nissanka went past him as the most prolific run-getter for Sri Lanka in T20Is. By the time Mendis was dragged out of his crease by a ripping legbreak from Burl, Sri Lanka had fallen to 100 for 2 in 12.1 overs.
With even Pavan Rathnayake struggling at the start of his innings, Nissanka felt obligated to hit out and was out on the reverse sweep off Graeme Cremer, who returned figures of 4-0-27-2. His second victim was Kamindu Mendis courtesy a gentle push for a return catch.
Rathnayake provides a finishing kick
It was only in the end that Sri Lanka found some momentum with Rathnayake finding a way to score 44 off 25. He hit the first six of the innings at the end of the 17th over, and went to hit the only other six of the innings off Brad Evans in the 19th over. Dunith Wellalage scored 14 off the last over to carry some momentum into the defence.
Zimbabwe struggle against slowness
When Sri Lanka chose to bat, Raza called the toss a win-win because he expected the conditions to get better as the temperatures cooled down and lights came on in the evening. That was certainly not the case at the start of the innings as only 20 runs came off the first three overs.
Bennett sticks, others hit
Starting with the fourth over, Marumani began to take extra risks. It started with two reverse-swept boundaries off Maheesh Theekshana in the fourth over followed by a six over long-on off the same bowler in the sixth.
The squeeze is on
Conceding 55 in the powerplay was not ideal, but Sri Lanka would have backed their slower bowlers to control the game once the field spread out. That is exactly what happened as Dasun Shanaka and Dushan Hemantha conceded seven and six in overs seven and eight. Wellalage cashed in on the pressure with clever bowling outside Marumani's arc. Zimbabwe responded by promoting Burl to No. 3.
Burl keeps Zimbabwe in the hunt
With a single off the last ball of the 10th over, the asking rate went past 10. Zimbabwe needed 101 off the last 10 overs. Burl now unleashed burly hits off Wellalage, first a short ball for four and then a 103metre six down the ground. The pitch was not playing better. When Shanaka brought Sri Lanka back with a short ball to dismiss Burl for 23 off 13, Zimbabwe needed 81 off 50.
The Raza show
At this point Bennett was 37 off 32 but not for lack of trying. He was just struggling to get used to the pace of the pitch. And Raza also got off to a slow start of 7 off the first 10 balls he faced. With 61 needed off 33 balls, though, Hemantha dropped one short. Raza absolutely laid into it for a 94metre six and followed it up with a straight six. He then walked at Hemantha to steer a four to backward point.
In the next over, Raza took a straight six off Theekshana even though he hadn't overpitched. This assault knocked the stuffing out of Sri Lanka to leave 19 needed off last three.
The final jitters
Wellalage bowled a good final over to leave 13 needed off the last two, and Hemantha managed to get Raza caught at extra cover off a short ball. Now Zimbabwe were looking at inexperienced batters who hadn't yet had a hit in this tournament. Tashinga Musekiwa didn't fare that well, and scored 1 off 2. With 10 needed off six, Tony Munyonga, so far known for two superb catches in the tournament, hit Theekshana for a six to calm Zimbabwe down before Bennett hit the winning runs.
