Twitter Reactions: Colin de Grandhomme and Tom Bruce trounce the Islanders with responsible batting

It is a fourth-wicket partnership yet again that did the job for the Kiwis.

By CricTracker Staff verified

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Colin de Grandhomme
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Colin de Grandhomme. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

Excellent bowling display and great batting despite the odds and the inexperience helped New Zealand clinch the T20I series against Sri Lanka. In the second game in Pallekele, Colin de Grandhomme was the star for the team with the bat in the absence of Ross Taylor. Tom Bruce also played excellent cricket and built up a great partnership. Even though things got quite dramatic in the last over, a few mistakes cost Sri Lanka the game.

Lasith Malinga opted to bat first after winning the toss, his men found it tough to get going in the powerplay. Kusal Perera was dismissed for an identical 11 off 10 balls as it was in the first T20I. The star performer from the last game, Kusal Mendis, also couldn’t get going and just got 26 runs under his belt. At this stage, Avishka Fernando and Niroshan Dickwella revived the innings. While the former mustered 37 from 25, the latter scored 39 from 30 balls.

Even though it would have been ideal for the hosts had they batted for a longer time, it wasn’t their day. Small contributions from the lower-order batsmen helped Sri Lanka get to 161/9. Seth Rance picked up a three-wicket haul while Tim Southee and Scott Kuggeleijn accounted for two scalps each.

Tom Bruce plays the ideal partner to Colin de Grandhomme

Martin Guptill didn’t take the field for a lot of time in the first innings due to stomach cramps. Thus, he couldn’t walk out to bat until the fifth wicket fell. So, Colin Munro and Tim Seifert opened the innings. Both these men got off to flyers. While the left-hander scored 13 off 7, the wicket-keeper raced his way to 15 from 9. However, both of them couldn’t carry on for long. New Zealand experimented by sending Scott Kuggeleijn at three but he could only score 8 runs.

After these wickets fell, Colin de Grandhomme and Tom Bruce took the onus upon themselves and built up a good partnership. The former fell after scoring 59 from 46 when his side was 15 runs short of a win. 7 runs were required in the last over and two wickets fell off the first two balls including that of Bruce. Mitchell Santner, however, had a bit of luck in his favour. He made the most of it and finished the game for his team to register a 4-wicket win.

Twitterati praised Colin de Grandhomme and Tom Bruce for their efforts. They also enjoyed Mitchell Santner’s heroics on the field apart from the bowling heroics from Seth Rance and others. The fans congratulated New Zealand for the series win.

Here is how Twitterati reacted:

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