Sri Lanka vs West Indies 1st T20I: Sri Lanka defeat West Indies in a high-scoring match

Sri Lanka vs West Indies 1st T20I: Sri Lanka defeat West Indies in a high-scoring match: In a high scoring match played on a ground with a pulled-up boundary, Sri Lankans thumped the West Indies by a margin of 30 runs. While Dilshan top scored for the home team with a strokeful 56, becoming the highest run scorer for the Lankans in T20Is. Mathews’ cameo propelled Windies to a huge total of 215. Despite some fight from Fletcher, Bravo and Pollard; the West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals, and ended 31 runs short of the target.

Earlier, the toss was delayed due to passing showers. Sammy won the toss for the West Indies, and decided to bowl first in a true wicket without any sort of ambiguities. And the Sri Lankan openers, Perera and Dilshan, fully capitalized on the opportunity. The duo went berserk against a hapless West Indian attack. The opening bowlers Taylor and Holder were taken to cleaners by some clean hitting from the duo. Such was the situation that, in spite of a very tight over from Narine in the 6^th over, Sri Lankans had 68 on the board off 6 overs, clearly setting the tempo for a huge target. Dilshan, meanwhile, became the highest run scorer for Sri Lanka in T20Is.

The assault continued till the introduction of Pollard in the 10^th over. Trying to clear the cover region, Perera ended up scooping one right into the hands of Sammy. The opening partnership was worth a crucial 90 runs. Meanwhile, Dilshan completed his 10^th T20I victory, only to fall trying to reverse sweep Pollard a few deliveries later. The West Indies, for a couple of overs, cut back the flow of runs and looked like they would restrict the Lankans to a chaseable score.

The new batsmen, Jayasuria and Chandimal, stared to accelerate. They were especially severe against Pollard, and looked ready for a par-200 score. Narine, in the 17^th over, removed the dangerous Jayasuriya despite being a tad expensive. Still he finished with figures of 1-20 in his quota of 4 overs. But the real boost was provided by Chandimal and Mathews against Bravo. Bravo ended up giving 22 runs off his last, which included 3 hits over the rope. The scorecard read 188 for three, still 2 overs to spare. A score over 200 was pretty much guaranteed, and some clean hitting in the last couple of overs from the Lankans ensured that they ended up with a huge 215 on board, especially thanks to Mathews’ exceptional cameo. In a rare sight, all the batsmen who came to bat ended up scoring over 30.

The West Indies got off to a worst possible start. Johnson Charles’ stumps were knocked off by a Malinga Yorker, and the West Indies were still scoring less than 6 RPO after two overs. Malinga and Kulasekara continued the good work for the Lankans, and the scorecard read 27 for the loss of 1 wicket. It was Fletcher who really got the Windies going, after the fall of Samuels to Senanayake. Fletcher really got to the nerves of the Lankan spinners, punishing them at every opportunity possible. He reached his 4^th T20I half-century off just 22 deliveries.

But twin strikes by Senanayake and Chameera left the Windies reeling at 92-4. But the run-rate was upped by some clean hitting by Bravo and Pollard, who took it onto themselves to get their team over the target. The required run-rate seemed to dip below 10 and just when it looked like the Windies will pull off a spectacular run-chase, Bravo ended up edging one to the wicket keeper trying to run it down to third man.

And it didn’t help when Pollard holed one the very next over to long on. And that’s when the match was half won for Sri Lanka. The windies never really recovered from those two wickets, and Senanayake’s twin strikes off successive deliveries in the 15^th over sealed the deal for the home team. While the Sri Lankan tail wagged, with Narine providing some lusty blows for his 23, the match was long lost before his cameo. Eventually, the West Indian team was bowled out for 185, with the home team winning the match by 30 runs.

Brief Summary

Sri Lankans capitalized at the vital moments of the match. Just like the case it has been for quite some time, the West Indies batsmen had their chances. But two instances; one being Bravo’s expensive over, and the other being Bravo’s and Pollard’s dismissal in a short span, sealed the match for the Lankans.

Scorecard

Sri Lanka 215/3 ( Dilshan 56, Chandimal 40; Pollard 2-42)

West Indies 185 all out ( Fletcher 57, Pollard 26; Senanayake 4-46)

Sachithra Senanayake is the Man of the Match