Sri Lanka displayed dominance with their fast bowling under lights to crush United Arab Emirates by 79 runs in their Group A match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, while also giving themselves a massive NRR boost at the Simonds Stadium.
Following their humiliating loss to Namibia, Sri Lanka bounced back with their victory margin taking their NRR (+0.60) past Netherlands'(+0.15).
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Put into bat first, the opening partnership of 42 runs between Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis laid the foundation for the Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka. Mendis fell in the fifth over, but the Lankans ended the Powerplay with over 50 runs. This was followed by another 50-run stand between Dhananjaya de Silva and Nissanka. The all-rounder was aggressive, smashing a 21-ball 33 laced with three fours and a six before he was run-out.
Sri Lanka were headed towards a huge total but leg-spinner Karthik Meiyappan came in and turned the tables with a shocking hat-trick. Meiyappan was brought in to bowl in the 15th over, with Pathum Nissanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa still batting.
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His over triggered a major middle-order collapse, as the pressure fell back on Sri Lanka. Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s attempt to play inside-out saw him play the ball deep to Kashif Daud. Charith Asalanka was out first ball as he nicked to Vriitya Aravind.
Coming in to face the hat-trick ball, Dasun Shanaka was dismissed by a wonderful googly that found the gap between bat and pad and rattled his stumps. With this, Meiyappan became the first player to claim a hat-trick for UAE in T20Is and was also the first hat-trick of this year’s mega event.
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However, Nissanka, reached his fifty in the same over and got a move on as Sri Lanka posted a competitive 152-8 in 20 overs. But a beautiful catch by Basil Hameed brought an end to his innings.
Chasing a par total, three of UAE’s first four victims were bowled out as Dushmantha Chameera and Pramod Madushan displayed lethal fast bowling, swinging and seaming the new ball. Under lights, UAE struggled, losing four wickets inside the powerplay to be reduced to 21/4. Wanindu Hasaranga piled on UAEs troubles and the score was 42/7 in 12 overs as the Lankans were headed for a huge win.
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Maheesh Theekshana then had Meiyappan stumped and Hasaranga picked up a third in the 15th by cleaning up Afzal Khan to finish with exceptional figures of 3/8 as UAE were reeling at 56/9.
But UAE’s No 10 Junaid Siddique (18) decided to hit big, and batted until the 18th over. Shanaka brought back Chameera to finish things off but Siddique smashed a short ball out of the ground for what was the biggest six of the tournament so far. Siddique then tried to go after Theekshana but was out in the 18th over as UAE were dismissed for 73, handing Sri Lanka a 79-run win.
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Brief Scores
Sri Lanka 152/8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 74, Dhananjaya de Silva 33; Karthik Meiyappan 3-19, Zahoor Khan 2-26)
UAE 73 in 17.1 overs (Junaid Siddique 18; Wanindu Hasaranga 3-8, Dushmantha Chameera 3-15, Pramod Madushan 2-15)
