New Delhi. The condition of New Zealand team, which reached Sri Lanka after registering a historic win against India, was bad in the first ODI match. Host Sri Lanka easily defeated New Zealand in a rain-affected match. When Sri Lanka scored 324 runs in 49.2 overs against New Zealand on Wednesday, it started raining. After this, New Zealand was given a target of 221 runs in 27 overs. In reply, New Zealand team could score only 175 runs for 9 wickets. In this way, Sri Lanka won the match by 45 runs under Duckworth-Lewis rule.
Kusal Mendis’s innings of 143 runs
An ODI match was played between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Dambulla on Wednesday. Host Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first. He lost the wicket of opener Pathum Nissanka (12) early but after this there was such a partnership that New Zealand’s condition worsened. For Sri Lanka, wicketkeeper batsman Kusal Mendis played an inning of 143 runs while Avishka Fernando scored 100 runs.
Record partnership of 206 runs
Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando made a partnership of 206 runs for the second wicket. This is the record of Sri Lanka’s biggest partnership against New Zealand in ODI matches. Earlier, the record of partnership of 201 runs was in the name of Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga. Both of them had made a partnership of 201 runs in Napier in 2006.
Captain Aslanka also showed good hands
After Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando, captain Charit Asalanka also showed good hands in the last overs. He scored 40 runs in 28 balls. Thanks to Kusal, Avishka and Charit, Sri Lanka had scored 324 runs for 5 wickets in 49.2 overs by the time the game was stopped. For New Zealand, Jacob Duffy took maximum 3 wickets. Michael Bracewell and Ish Sodhi took one wicket each.
New Zealand’s innings sank in the attempt to increase the run rate
Openers Will Young (48) and Tim Robinson (35) gave a good but slow start to New Zealand. Both of them scored 88 runs in 13.2 overs. This pair broke due to the dismissal of Tim Robinson. When New Zealand lost the first wicket, it was 133 runs away from victory, which it had to score in 13.4 overs. This was not going to be easy at all and it was not. In an effort to increase the run rate, New Zealand lost wickets rapidly and moved away from the target. Ultimately, after 27 overs its score could reach only 175 runs for 9 wickets.
Tags: Kusal Mendis, new zealand, sri lanka
FIRST PUBLISHED: November 13, 2024, 18:47 IST