SL vs NED (Match 09) – Highlights
Asia Cup 2022 champions Sri Lanka advances to the final stage after defeating the Netherlands in the group A match. They defeated the Netherlands by 16 runs in the first match of the day in Geelong on Thursday (October 20). With this victory, the Lankans confirmed the Super Twelve as the first team from the group stage.
Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and decided to bat first, keeping the equation to leave the tournament if they lose in mind. Sri Lanka collected 162 runs losing 6 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs. Kusal Mendis raised a storm with the bat and scored 79 runs off 44 balls.
Despite the great innings of the opener Max O’Dowd, the Dutch could not make more than 146 runs after losing 9 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs due to the failure of the rest. Batting from start to finish, O’Dowd played an unbeaten inning of 71 off 53 balls.
The Netherlands went into the game at Cardinia Oval in Geelong with 4 points from two wins. However, the margin of victory against Namibia and UAE was small and the run rate was also low. In contrast, Sri Lanka, who started the tournament with a loss to Namibia, earned 2 points by defeating the United Arab Emirates.
But their only win was by a bigger margin (79 runs) so the run rate was quite good. That’s why the Lankans had a chance to pass the first round if they won. And Kusal Mendis took advantage of that opportunity to take Sri Lanka to the Super Twelve.
Lankan opener Pathum Nissanka struggled to score runs from the beginning. After Nissanka was dismissed for 14 runs off 21 balls, the other batsmen also had to struggle. But Kusal was batting well against different bowling holding into the wicket.
He played an innings of 79 runs off 44 balls before being dismissed in the second ball of the 20th over. Where there were 5 fours with an equal number of 5 sixes. It was the ninth fifty of his T20I career. Sri Lanka scored 102 runs in the last 10 overs thanks to Kusal’s skill at the end. Apart from Kusal, the other 7 batsmen of the team scored 79 runs. Charith Asalanka scored the second-highest 31 runs off 30 balls for the team.
However, despite picking up 162 runs on the scoreboard, Sri Lanka was somewhat scared. Because they had to enter the field without the first-row pacers due to injuries. Dilshan Madushanka was ruled out the day before the first match. Another pacer Dushmantha Chameera’s tournament ended the day before the third match. After the two who could be counted on, Pramod Madushan was also out of the playing XI due to illness.
In the absence of three main bowlers, Sri Lanka formed the bowling department with the spin trio of Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, and Dhananjaya de Silva. However, they did not disappoint the team.
Dutch opener Vikramjit Singh went back to the pavilion when the team total was 23 runs as they came down to chase the target of 163 runs. The last match’s best player for the Dutch, Bas de Leede didn’t last long either. He departed off Lahiru Kumara scoring 14 runs off 10 balls. And Colin Ackermann returned before opening the run book. As a result, the Dutch lost 3 wickets for 47 runs and dropped out of the match.
Then Tom Cooper and captain Scott Edwards along with O’Dowd made some efforts but both had to return to the dressing room to keep up with the asking run rate. Cooper scored 16 off 19 balls, and Edwards scored 21 off 15 balls.
After the departure of these two, no one else could keep O’Dowd company. In the end, he tried to win the team from undefeated. He set the precedent of batting from the beginning to the end of the match playing an innings of 71 runs off 53 balls. His innings had 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Wanindu Hasaranga played a big role in stopping the Netherlands by taking 3 wickets for 28 runs. Apart from this, Maheesh Theekshana took 2 wickets, and Lahiru Kumara and Binura Fernando took 1 wicket each for the winning team.
SL vs NED Scoreboard
Sri Lanka – 162/6 (20.0)
Netherlands – 146/9 (20.0)
Result – Sri Lanka won by 16 runs
Player of the match – Kusal Mendis
SL vs NED Playing XIs
| SL | Dasun Shanaka (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Binura Fernando, and Lahiru Kumara. |
| NED | Scott Edwards (c & wk), Max ODowd, Bas de Leede, Vikramjit Singh, Tom Cooper, Roelof van der Merwe, Colin Ackermann, Tim Pringle, Timm van der Gugten, Paul van Meekeren, and Fred Klaassen. |