Janith Liyanage's fighting 95 takes Sri Lanka home in a thriller in Colombo
Janith Liyanage's thumping 95 helped Sri Lanka cruise pass Zimbabwe by 2 wickets. Maheesh Theekshana's 4 wicket haul too aided them to restrict Zimbabwe for 208.
Shahriar KabirEditor
Posted - 2024-01-09T10:14:33+06:00
Updated - 2024-01-09T10:14:33+06:00
Sri Lanka won a nail bitter against Zimbabwe to go 1-0 up in the 3 match ODI series on Monday (8th January) in Colombo. Janith Liyanage's thumping 95 helped Sri Lanka cruise pass Zimbabwe by 2 wickets. Maheesh Theekshana's 4 wicket haul too aided them to restrict Zimbabwe for 208.
Earlier, Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat first. Coming out to bat, they lost their gun opener in Kamunhukamwe for a golden duck. Captain Craig Ervine and Gumbie stitched a fine partnership of 60 runs to handle the initial blow. Maheesh Theekshana crashed Gumbie's stumps and broke the partnership. However, skipper Ervine wasn’t meant to stop, he kept going as the scoreboard ticked continuously. Craig Ervine made a serious 82 off 102 deliveries to keep Zimbabwe hunt.
But Maheesh Theekshana's deadly spell thumped Zimbabwe's middle order and rattled them to stutter on 190-6. After this they could managed to gather 18 runs more with 4 wickets and posted just 208 for 10. Majority credit to Maheesh Theekshana for his brilliant spell with 4 fer. Chameeea and Vendersay too had 2 wickets each.
In reply, Sri Lanka lost quick wickets earlier. Ngarava was breathing fire with the new ball and teared apart the top order with a fierce spell. He got the wickets of Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis and Samarawickrama and left Sri Lanka crumble for 53-4. But the youngman Janith Liyanage stood tall for his country, anchoring the innings throughout the match and scored a game changing 95 off only 127 deliveries. After the fall of Janith, lower order batters Chameera and Vandersay had a little but effective partnership of 36 runs to take Sri Lanka home with 2 wickets in hands. For Janith Liyanage's courageous 95, he was named the player of the match. The final ODI will be on Thursday (11th January)