With rain washing out yesterday’s action and the previous game with New Zealand against Afghanistan all were going crazy about this match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. New Zealand who won the toss chose to bat first. Sri Lankan spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Dhananjaya de Silva picked the wickets of Finn Allen and Devon Conway. With the early strikes from their spinners, Kasun Rajitha picked the wicket of Kane Williamson and New Zealand scored just 25/3 which is the lowest score in powerplay in Super 12. In the 7th over just after the powerplay, Glen Phillips was dropped by Pathum Nissanka off Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, who scored his maiden century in the T20 World Cup. Glen Phillips and Daryl Mitchell put on a partnership of 84 off 64 balls which came at a crucial time. Glen Phillips was dropped again in the 14th by Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka. In the last 7 overs, New Zealand scored 91 runs which helped them to post a total of 167/7.
With 168 to win, Sri Lanka began the chase. The Kiwi pacers gave a shocking start for Sri Lanka by picking the wickets of Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva in the first 2 overs. Sri Lanka scored just 24/4 in the powerplay. Santner who bowled the first over after powerplay picked the wicket of Chamika Karunaratne in the very first ball. The highest score by a Sri Lankan batter is by their Skipper Dasun Shanaka who scored 35 off 32 balls. Sri Lanka was bowled out for 102 runs. New Zealand won the game by 65 runs and continues to stay in first place in the points table in their group.
Tomorrow there are 3 matches to be played between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Netherlands and India is going to face South Africa which is going to be a fiery match. Already Pakistan lost the match against Zimbabwe by 1 run. Can Pakistan win the match against the Netherlands? Who is going to win between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe?