Sri Lanka vs West Indies 2nd T20I, Review: West Indies notch up Consolidation victory

A dry, uninspiring tour of Sri Lanka ended with a positive note for the West Indians, who beat the Sri Lankans comprehensively by 23 runs. Nifty contributions from Bravo, Charles and Ramdin drove West Indies to a respectable 162. The Sri Lankans, meanwhile, lost their way in the middle overs. While Dilshan continued his fine run with another half century, a 4-wicket haul from Bravo sealed the deal for the Lankans. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, continued their miserable run at the RPS stadium, having won just a single match in out of 10 they have played at the venue.

After winning the toss, the West Indies batsmen came out all guns blazing. Charles and Fletcher got into the groove after a couple of quite overs initially. Both the batsmen hammered the bowlers in 5^th and 6^th overs, scoring 22 in each of those two. While Charles went after Senanayake, who was Sri Lanka’s man of the match in the previous match; Fletcher got into the act against Chameera. It did not help the Sri Lankans when Fletcher was given a reprieve, thanks to a dropped catch.

But the Sri Lankans pulled back immediately, as Siriwardana struck Fletcher with one on the pads. But the usual Windies incompetence to sustain the momentum showed up again. Marlon Samuels once again had a failure, but this time he was caught short of ground while trying to pick up a double. Another failure for Samuels, and the Windies were back under pressure in a span of 4 balls. And it did not help matters when lack of footwork ended Charles’ stay at the crease. The scorecard read 75 for the loss of 3 wickets; and just as it has been the case with the Windies for a while now, the momentum sustained in the initial overs was thrown away thanks to poor cricket from West Indies middle order batsmen.

The West Indies middle order, however, applied themselves in the middle. Though Andre Russel fell trying to accelerate the scoring rate, Bravo and Ramdin batted sensibly in the middle. The scorecard read 134-4 in 16 overs, and the West Indies were well set for a par-170 score. Just when it looked like Bravo, who played the role of sheet anchor, will up the ante, Malinga struck just when the captain needed him to. But thanks to Ramdin’s acceleration towards the end of the innings, West Indies ended up with a respectable 162 on board.

Sri Lanka, in an expected fashion, came out all guns blazing. But the flow of runs were cut off after the dismissal of the in-form Kusal Perera. Dilshan-Jayasuriya duo reverted back to plan B, and were quite satisfied in weathering out the initial overs rather than lose many wickets. The duo kept a sub-7 run-rate, and ended up with a respectable 68 on board after 10 overs. And that’s when the match defining events unfolded.

Jayasuriya, in an attempt to cut the required run-rate, started to unleash a wide array of shots. He was well supported by Dilshan, who was on route to yet another half-century. Both of them were excellent between the wickets, and were slowly running away with the match. But out of nowhere, Jayasuriya hold one too long off, which was excellently taken by Andre Russel. And this triggered Sri Lanka’s descend downwards.

Chandimal couldn’t make the most of the reprieve given by Pollard, as he directed a low full toss right into the hands of fine leg. Dilshan completed his second consecutive fifty, but was soon dismissed in a spectacular manner. Dilshan executed a perfect reverse sweep off Ravi Rampaul, but, unfortunately, went against the tallest fielder on the ground. In an acrobatic effort, Jason Holder plucks the ball which was travelling, and did well not to cross the boundary line. And that was effectively the nail on the coffin for Sri Lanka. The captain failed to make any impact, and fell to Bravo trying to clear the boundary. While Kapugedara’s stay on the crease was for a duration of 3 balls, Siriwardana’s lone attempt to savage something out the match came to a tame end n the 18^th over, trying to step down and hit Narine out of the park.

Both Senanayake and Kulasekara fell within a span of 4 deliveries to Bravo, and it was just a matter of formalities thereafter. Bravo finished with impressive figures of 4-27 from his quota of 4 overs. Sri Lanka, unfortunately, couldn’t avoid being bowled out, as Rampaul picked up his third for the day in the final delivery of the match to bowl out the home team.

Summary

West Indies’ miserable tour of Sri Lanka came to an end on a high note, notching up a win in the final match of the tour. It was a surprisingly clinical performance from the visitors, and won the crucial moments of the match. The Lankans, meanwhile, really faltered in the chase; the batsmen looking quite unwilling to apply themselves. Dilshan, who scored yet another T20I fifty, was the sole bright spot in the Sri Lankan batting today. But the home team will be the happier side overall, having wrapped up the Test and ODI series following some demoralizing losses to Pakistan and India, and tying the T20 series. The West Indies, meanwhile, would look to re-evaluate their application with both the bat and ball in the longer formats before the series down under. 1

Scorecard

West Indies 162/6 (Ramdin 34, Charles 34; Malinga 2/16)

Sri Lanka 139 (Dilshan 52, Jayasuriya 30; Bravo 4-28)

Dwayne Bravo is the Man of the Match

T Dilshan is the Man of the Series