T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Gr A, SL v UAE: Chameera, Hasaranga 3-fers, Nissanka 74 help SL open account
ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, Round 1, Group A, Sri Lanka v UAE: Dushmantha Chameera-Wanindu Hasaranga's 3-fers, Pathum Nissanka's 74 and Karthik Meiyappan's 3-19 are top performances. Sri Lanka beat UAE by 79 runs and move to third place in points table.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 152/8 (Nissanka 74, Dhananjaya 33, Meiyappan 3/19) beat UAE 73 (Afzal 19, Hasaranga 3/8, Chameera 3/15) by 79 runs
Player of the Match: Pathum Nissanka (74 runs in 60 balls)
Bruised Sri Lanka who had a heart-breaking defeat in their opening game against Namibia, locked horns with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who too tasted the same flavour in their first game against Netherlands. The third Group A game of the first round of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 was held at the Simonds stadiums in Geelong.
In their only head-to-head fixture in this format, Sri Lanka had registered a comfortable victory over the UAE.
A commendable return to normalcy for Sri Lanka
After losing the first game, Sri Lanka were under all sorts of pressure to win their second game to be alive in this tournament. And they began in the best possible way. There was a little phase when they were punched back with a hat-trick from Karthik Meiyappan but they stood steady to post a decent score.
The expressive pace was too good for the United Arab Emirates batters early on. In the middle overs, the spin of Wanindu Hasaranga caged the UAE batters as nobody was able to spend time in the middle.
United Arab Emirates captain Chundangapoyil Rizwan on winning the toss decided to field first. While Sri Lanka brought in Charith Asalanka replacing injured Danushka Gunathilaka, UAE added bowling all-rounder Aryan Lakra in place of Zawar Farid.
Put in to bat first, Sri Lanka started decently shouldering on a 42-run opening partnership to reach 52/1 in the powerplay before reaching 114/2 in 14 overs. But the UAE spinners destroyed their rhythm with a bunch of wickets in a couple of overs as a special hat-trick from Karthik Meiyappan reduced them to 121/6 in 16 overs. However, Pathum Nissanka who stayed almost till the end carried his side to 152/8 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 153, the UAE batters found it tough to deal with the expressive pace of Dushmantha Chameera and the other Sri Lankan bowlers as they were reduced to 23/4 in the powerplay. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals as they were bundled out for 73 to gift Sri Lanka a 79-run victory.
Let’s scan the top performances from the game between Sri Lanka and UAE in ICC T20 World Cup 2022.