At the Simonds Stadium, here, on Tuesday, Sri Lanka put on a display of quick bowling under the lights to thrash United Arab Emirates by 79 runs in a Group A match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 and earn themselves a significant NRR boost.
After losing to Namibia, Sri Lanka responded magnificently, and the victory margin pushes their NRR (+0.60) over that of the Netherlands (+0.15).
When given the opportunity to bat first, Sri Lanka, the defending Asia Cup champions, got off to a strong start thanks to an opening partnership of 42 runs between Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis. Despite losing Mendis in the fifth over, Shanaka's team had amassed almost 50 runs by the end of the Powerplay, making them the happier team.
A 50-run stand between Dhananjaya de Silva and Nissanka followed. The all-rounder was the more aggressive of the two, hitting a 21-ball 33 that included three fours and a six before being run out and ending his innings early.
With Pathum Nissanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa at the crease, Sri Lanka was cruising toward a sizable total until leg-spinner Karthik Meiyappan came into the bowl and dramatically turned the tables with his hat-trick.
A middle-order collapse brought on by the over renewed strain on Sri Lanka. In an attempt to turn inside out, Bhanuka Rajapaksa holed up next to Kashif Daud. Charith Asalanka stole the ball from Vriitya Aravind and left for a golden duck.
As Meiyappan spun off in jubilation, Dasun Shanaka, facing the hat-trick ball, had no response to the superb googly that found the space between bat and pad and rattled his stumps.
Meiyappan became the first player for UAE in T20Is to score a hat-trick. Additionally, it was the first hat-trick of the competition. Although the hat-trick came in the same over as Nissanka's fifty, he quickly picked up the pace and helped Sri Lanka score a respectable total of 152-8 in 20 overs. Nearly half of Sri Lanka's team total was scored during this innings, which was ended by a blinder from Basil Hameed.
As Dushmantha Chameera and Pramod Madushan put on a show of quick bowling, swinging and seaming the new ball about, the UAE's first four victims were cleaned up as they chased a par score.
UAE had trouble getting underway and were reduced to 21/4 after losing four wickets during the powerplay. When Wanindu Hasaranga entered the fray, Sri Lanka was looking a significant victory as the scoreboard read 42/7 after 12 overs.
Meiyappan, the first inning's star, was stumped by Maheesh Theekshana, and Hasaranga added a third in the fifteenth over by dismissing Afzal Khan to complete with remarkable figures of 3 for 8 and push UAE to 56 for 9.
The No. 10 batter for the UAE, Junaid Siddique (18), started off strong and stayed until the 18th over. Siddique hit the biggest six of the game by smashing a short ball out of the ground after Shanaka dragged Chameera back to close the innings.
Siddique attempted to go after Theekshana too and perished in the 18th over as UAE were eventually bowled out for 73 as Sri Lanka romped home to a 79-run win.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 152/8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 74, Dhananjaya de Silva 33; Karthik Meiyappan 3-19, Zahoor Khan 2-26) beat UAE 73 in 17.1 overs (Junaid Siddique 18; Wanindu Hasaranga 3-8, Dushmantha Chameera 3-15, Pramod Madushan 2-15) by 79 runs