Pathum Nissanka, the right-hand top order batsmen who intimidated the New Zealand bowling department with his terrifying 90 runs out of 60 balls in the first T20 match against New Zealand.
The three match T20 home series of New Zealand has begun with a thrilling victory against the all round excellent performance of the Team Sri Lanka. The SL team led by Charith Asalana won the toss in the Bay Oval Stadium and they opted to bowl first. New Zealand batters struggled to build a partnership to chalk up a fighting score on the scoreboard initially. Later, Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell anchored their partnership to 121 runs. At the end of the twenty overs New Zealand set the target to Sri Lanka as 173.
Pathum Nissanka’s Clinical Performance
The Sri Lankan fans’ hopes were set high when the opening batsmen of SL men’s team Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis gave a swashbuckling innings of 136 during their partnership. The New Zealand bowler’s strategies weren’t working effectively before the flawless batting of both Nissanka and Mendis. The breakthrough was given by the slippery fast bowler of Kiwis, Matt Henry who took the wicket of Nissanka at his 90 runs. The broken partnership was completely ripped off when Mendis lost his wicket to the medium-fast bowler Jacob Duffy.
A Staggering Middle-Order!
The probability of Sri Lanka’s win was shining brighter until the anchored partnership of the openers. After that the middle-order batsmen of SL couldn’t resist the attacking bowling of the Kiwis. Although, they were close to the target even at the last over of the match. But it was a heartbreak for the Sri Lankan fans to witness the first win which just slipped out of their hands.
Scorecard Highlights
| New Zealand | Sri Lanka |
| Daryl Mitchell – 62Michael Bracewell – 59 | Pathum Nissanka – 90Kusal Mendis – 46 |
| Total – 172/8 | Total – 164/8 |
| SL BowlingBinura Fernando – 2/22Maheesh Theekshana – 2/29Matheesha Pathirana – 1/60 | NZ BowlingJacob Duffy – 3/21Matt Henry – 2/28Zakary Foulkes – 2/41 |
