AUSTRALIA: UAE was bowled out for 73 as Sri Lanka registered a thumping 79-run win in a Twenty20 World Cup Qualifier Group A match in Australia on Tuesday. The UAE team won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Sri Lanka innings
Nissanka and Mendis opened the innings for Sri Lanka (SL). Opening batsman Nissanka was timing the ball quite nicely and was playing the bulk of the deliveries. As a result, Sri Lanka scored 52 runs in the power play. Unfortunately, Mendis (18) got out at the end of the fourth over.
The wicket was not flat as expected, and the ball was holding into the wicket. But Nissanka and de Silva scored some boundaries, did some good running between the wickets, and scored 84 runs with a wicket loss by the end of the 10th over. It was surprising to see that UAE used 7 bowlers within the span of 10 overs.
Nissanka and de Silva’s partnership added 50 runs, but soon after that, de Silva (33) got run out due to a miscommunication. After his departure, SL reached the 100 runs mark in 13.1 overs.
With Nissanka still on the crease, SL was restricted to 117- 5 in 15 overs, thanks to Meiyappan, who turned the table by taking back-to-back three wickets. His Hattrick removed Rajapaksa, Asalanka, and skipper Shanaka. Ayan Khan gave another blow in the next over by removing Hasaranga and left SL in big trouble (120-6).
The final five overs looked crucial for SL as clouds of elimination were hovering over the team.
SL was heavily dependent on Nissanka from here, and he did not disappoint. The batsman scored a fantastic 74 with 6 fours, and 2 sixes and single-handily helped SL reach a total of 152.
UAE Innings
UAE thought the chase would be manageable, but their hopes were put to a break by Chameera as he bowled out both Waseem and Lakra. He also removed skipper Rizwan. Soon, UAE found themselves 23-4 at the end of the 6th over.
As soon as Chameera shifted the momentum towards SL, UAE just kept losing wickets one after another, and there was not any point where UAE looked stable.
In the end, UAE was all out for 73 runs, and only 3 players from UAE managed to score above 10 runs. From SL’s side, Hasaranga and Chameera remained the peak of the bowlers, and they both shared 3 wickets each.
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