ICC World Cup 2019: Match 39, Sri Lanka vs Windies – Best Memes from the Match

Nicholas Pooran played a brilliant knock but unfortunately, he had to end up on the losing side.

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Lasith Malinga
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Lasith Malinga. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Remember Angelo Mathews was an all-rounder? Injuries kept him away from bowling for a long time and the senior cricketer put his hand up when the team needed the most. He snaffled the centurion Nicholas Pooran’s wicket when the game seemed done and dusted for Sri Lanka. It shut the door of the victory for the Windies in what was turning out to be a sensational thriller in Chester-le-Street. In the end, the Islanders managed to win it by 23 runs defending 338 runs.

Sunil Ambris got out early in the steep chase to Lasith Malinga and the veteran struck again soon to get rid of Windies’ best batsman Shai Hope. At 22/2 after five overs, Windies needed a partnership and that came from Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer. The duo played cautiously without scoring many runs but made sure that the wickets didn’t fall in a heap.

The partnership grew in confidence slowly and after the first powerplay, Gayle started to hit some lusty blows. But as it has been the case for the Caribbeans, the Universe Boss got in and top-edged one while attempting to slam Kasun Rajitha out of the park. Soon Shimron Hetmyer was run out for the umpteenth time in his career and left his team in a hole at 84/4 in the 18th over.

From here on Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder rebuilt the innings by mixing caution with aggression. Pooran is an exceptional talent and he proved it once again. After adding 61 runs together in a relatively quick time, Holder lost his patience and was holed out at mid-on. Pooran took the control of the innings here and slammed some quick runs in the 54-run association with Carlos Brathwaite who got out in a freakish way at the non-striker’s end.

At 199/6, the Windies were down and out. But many weren’t aware of Fabian Allen’s batting skills and that took even Sri Lanka by surprise. Allen joined hands with Pooran and played some scintillating strokes to bring the Windies close to the victory when nobody gave them a chance. The duo stitched a game-changing partnership of 83 runs in less than 10 overs and suddenly there was panic in the Sri Lankan camp.

However, it broke in an unfortunate way as Allen was run-out in the 45th over to leave Pooran stranded in the middle. The youngster got to his maiden ODI century and even as the cricketing world was busy praising him, the southpaw put his head down with a bigger task at hands. Sheldon Cottrell and once again did the job just like he did against New Zealand batting alongside Brathwaite.

But there was a certain Angelo Mathews who took the ball in his hands to deliver a moment of magic out of nowhere for Sri Lanka. Dimuth Karunaratne introduced him into the attack in the 48th over in a desperate situation and the veteran struck off his first ball since December 2017 to sensationally send back the centurion Pooran. Windies needed 31 runs in three overs and the game turned on its head.

Pooran’s heroic 118-run knock ended in a losing cause as Sri Lanka won the match comfortably in the end by 23 runs with the Windies only falling agonisingly short of the target.

Avishka shines with a ton

Sri Lanka got off to a brilliant start probably for the first time in the tournament after Windies opted to bowl first. Kusal Perera and Dimuth Karunaratne took a little bit of time initially before the former launched his assault on the opposition. They added 93 runs for the opening wicket and laid a solid platform for the batsmen to come. Jason Holder drew first blood to send back the Lankan skipper.

Perera continued to play his shots and looked extremely during his blitzkrieg. He was looking set to score a century but was involved in a mix-up with his partner Avishka Fernando. It led to him getting run-out after scoring 66 runs off just 50 deliveries. However, Fernando was set by then and he stitched important partnerships with Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne.

The trio supported him well and the jam-packed crowd was treated with some eye-catching strokeplay. Fernando eventually got to his well-deserved century with even Thirimanne finally living up to the expectations. Sri Lanka finished with their first 300-plus total of the tournament scoring 338 runs for the loss of six wickets after 50 overs and for the first time, their batting clicked.

Eventually, the score proved to be just enough as Sri Lanka somehow denied the determined Nicholas Pooran a victory and added two points to their kitty.

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