Zimbabwe – 143-5 in 20 overs (Sikandar Raza 62, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe 26, Sean Williams 14; Maheesh Theekshana 2/16, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/19, Dushmantha Chameera 1/38)
Sri Lanka – 144-7 in 20 overs (Angelo Mathews 46, Dasun Shanaka 26*, Kusal Perera 17; Sikandar Raza 3/13, Blessing Muzarabani 2/33, Wellington Masakadza 1/21)
Sri Lanka received by three wickets
An excellent all-round efficiency of 62 runs and three wickets by Sikandar Raza seemed to have put Zimbabwe heading in the right direction for victory, just for Sri Lanka to cling on grimly and deny them off the final ball in a heart-wrenching end to the primary Twenty20 worldwide match in Colombo on Sunday.
The vacationers misplaced the toss and had been put in to bat on a pitch that proved to be fairly uneven in bounce and troublesome to attain on, particularly in opposition to spin bowlers.
Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, opening the batting with Craig Ervine, took good benefit of the facility play, hitting up 26 off 18 balls, with two sixes and a 4, earlier than he fell to the spin of Maheesh Theekshana, skying a catch at 37 for one within the sixth over.
Ervine rapidly adopted for 10, which introduced collectively Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams.
Williams was unable to get going, however he fought arduous to attain 14 off 20 balls earlier than being caught close to the midwicket boundary at 83 for 3 within the 14th over.
Ryan Burl got here and went for 5.
Raza nonetheless stayed in and hit effectively to make 62 off 42 balls earlier than he mistimed an enormous hit to be caught within the deep, with the rating at 129 for 5 within the nineteenth over.
Brian Bennett and Luke Jongwe hit usefully within the final couple of overs and Zimbabwe completed on 143 for 5 after their 20 overs.
It scarcely seemed a complete more likely to problem the Sri Lankan batters, but it surely was effort below the situations.
The Zimbabwe bowlers, although, quickly prompted some surprises when Sri Lanka replied.
Richard Ngarava once more did the trick with an early wicket for Zimbabwe, as with solely his third supply he tempted Pathum Nissanka (2) with a leg-side supply that the batter obligingly hit to be caught by Wellington Masakadza on the boundary.
Kusal Perera (17) got here in to hit, however within the fifth over he selected the improper stroke in opposition to Masakadza himself and despatched a catch to Burl at long-on.
One over later it was Blessing Muzarabani’s flip, with Kusal Mendis (17) hitting him straight to Masakadza for an additional catch.
Then within the eighth over Sadeera Samarawickrama (9) missed an tried minimize in opposition to a ball from Raza that simply flicked off his bail.
The rating was now 51 for 4.
Charith Asalanka and Angelo Mathews utilized themselves to dig Sri Lanka out of a gap and had been simply starting to look on prime of the state of affairs when Raza struck once more.
Asalanka miscued a stroke in opposition to his bowling to ship a catch to the inevitable Masakadza at quick additional cowl, and two balls later the brand new man, Wanindu Hasaranga, was bowled out by a skidding off-break.
With Sri Lanka 83 for six wickets after 14 overs Zimbabwe had been now proper on prime, and nearly every thing for the hosts trusted the skilled Mathews, joined now by Dasun Shanaka.
He edged two lucky fours off Muzarabani, 11 runs coming off the over, and with Shanaka hitting desperately, Ngarava went for 12 within the seventeenth over – 34 wanted within the final three.
Jongwe, hitherto costly, got here on to bowl and conceded solely eight runs, leaving 26 runs wanted off the final two overs.
Ngarava bowled the nineteenth over, of blended high quality, yielding two fours, two wides and 12 runs, which left 14 to win off the ultimate over from Muzarabani to Mathews.
The primary two deliveries it appeared nearly settled the match – a lofted drive and a glide to 3rd man each went for fours.
A slower ball beat Mathews, however then from the fourth supply the batter went for the slog-sweep, solely to gap out on the midwicket boundary – as soon as once more to Masakadza!
Six runs had been now wanted off the final two deliveries and the brand new batter, Chameera, top-edged a 4 and chipped a two to deep midwicket to win the match for Sri Lanka.
Raza with three wickets for 13 runs off his 4 overs was the most effective of the bowlers, whereas Masakadza took 4 catches.
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