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.

Sri Lanka beat UAE in Group A game and move to third place (Photo: ©ICC via Getty)

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.

Meiyappan takes hat-trick against Sri Lanka in WC (Photo: ©ICC via Getty)

Hat-trick boy Karthik Meiyappan punctured Sri Lanka with 3/19

Karthik Meiyappan who hails from Chennai, playing for the United Arab Emirates registered his name in the record books with a hat-trick.

Sri Lanka depending on their good start was going at a steady rate to reach 114/2 in 14 overs. The leg-spinner Meiyappan was introduced for his third over. With the fourth ball of his over, he sent back Bhanuka Rajapaksa on 5 who opened his bat face in an aim to go over the covers but could only find the man in the deep.

On the very next delivery, Meiyappan bagged new batter Charith Asalanka who came forward and pushed the googly only to find a thin outside edge that was gobbled by the keeper with ease. The stage was set for a huge occasion as Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka walked in to the middle.

Meiyappan delivered a beautiful wrong ’un and Shanaka pressed forward to block but the ball going through the gap between bat and pad disturbed the stumps as Meiyappan wrote his name along with Brett Lee, Curtis Campher, Wanindu Hasaranga and Kagiso Rabada to pick up a hat-trick in Men’s T20 World Cup.

Meiyappan who is now the first player from an associate nation to take a hat-trick against a Test team in Men’s World Cup in both One Day Internationals and T20Is ended with figures of 3/19 in four overs to take his wicket tally to 21 wickets in 13 T20I games.

Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Group A, NAM v SL: Frylinck's 44 & 2-26 helps 14th-ranked Namibia topple SL

Nissanka gets player of the match for his fifty (74 runs) (Photo: ©ICC via Getty)

Nissanka’s 74 guided Sri Lanka to a formidable total

In an opening partnership of 42 runs, Pathum Nissanka began in an expressive way as he glanced a leg-sided delivery away past the short fine region for a boundary. In the very next over, he slapped the short ball from Aayan Afzal Khan for the same result before going deep to pull Aryan Lakra through mid-wicket for a boundary.

Since losing Kusal Mendis in the opening stand, Nissanka seemed to be going in his own shell; he nailed his first maximum against Karthik Meiyappan when he smoked the leg-spinner over the midwicket region. He treated Junaid Siddique with two back-to-back boundaries; one was biffed over the non-striker’s head for a one-bounce four, while the second one flew over the keeper’s head for the same result as the opener reached his eighth T20I fifty in 45 balls.

Even though Sri Lanka lost 4/7 in the next two overs, Nissanka held his end and released the pressure with a boundary powered behind the wicket. He took on Siddique to collect a six over deep mid-wicket besides hitting another over-pitched delivery in the mid-off region for a boundary. Nissanka who finished on 74 in 60 balls with the help of six boundaries and couple of maximums now has 884 T20I runs in 31 games as Sri Lanka finished on 152/8.

Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Group A, NED v UAE: Netherlands prevail in low-scoring game; win by 3 wkts

Hasarnga's 3-8 help Sri Lanka beat UAE (Photo: ©ICC via Getty)

Chameera thunder and Hasaranga spin burnt UAE with combined figures of 6/23

Since making his comeback in this T20 World Cup 2022, Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera has been in fabulous form and he added more feathers to his cap as he destroyed the top-order of the opponent’s batting line-up.

UAE were 15/0 after two overs when Chameera was introduced in the third over. With his very second ball, he managed to pocket the wicket of opener Muhammad Waseem on 2 whose loose drive away from the body dragged the ball onto the stumps.

The last ball of the over burst through Aryan Lakra who too attempted a loose drive moving his feet as the leg stump went for a walk. Chameera made it really tough for the opponent batters with his expressive pace. With the last ball of his third over, Chameera sent back opponent captain Rizwan whose feet went nowhere as he drove uppishly to mid-off to be dismissed on 1.

Chameera who finished on a worrying note which was marked by him leaving the ground limping along, finished with 3/15 to become the fifth Sri Lankan bowler to take 50 T20I wickets as he now has 52 wickets in 52 T20Is.

Chameera was well supported by Wanindu Hasaranga who after a maiden over to start his spell, trapped Vriitya Aravind on 9. In his next over, he trapped Kashif Daud with another googly that hit the batter on the back leg. In his last over with another beautiful flighted googly, Hasaranga disturbed the stumps of Afzal Khan to finish with 3/8 in his four overs. He now has 75 T20I wickets in 46 games.

Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Gr A, NED v NAM: De Leede's 2-18, 30* boosts Netherlands' Super 12 chances

What’s to Come

Sri Lanka will now meet Netherlands while the United Arab Emirates will take on Namibia in their last game to qualify for the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. Both games will be played on October 20 at the Simonds Stadium in Geelong.

ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Group A Points Table

Group A Points Table

Top twitter Reactions from Sri Lanka vs UAE, Group A game, T20 World Cup 2022

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