Sri Lanka clinched their second win of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the match against Oman, which took them to the top of the table in their group, which comprises Zimbabwe, Australia and Ireland as the other three teams.
SL vs OMAN: The Beginning
Put in to bat first by Oman, Sri Lanka lost the wicket of Kanil Mishara early in the innings on the score of 15, which was followed by his opening partner Pathum Nissanka soon after, who hasn’t had the best of starts to the tournament.
The co-hosts were in desperate need of a partnership, and that is when experienced batter Kusal Mendis and new kid on the block Pavan Rathnayake got together and added 94 runs for the third wicket to take Sri Lanka’s score to 136, with Rathnayke scoring his maiden half-century in T20I cricket.
SL vs OMAN: The Assault
Both batters made full use of the good batting conditions that were on offer in Palakele and took on the Oman bowlers, with Mendis scoring his second half-century of the competition in as many matches.
As far as Oman’s bowling is concerned it looked short of plans in the middle phase of the innings and might have eyed a comeback after Ratnayke was dismissed but Dasun Shanaka the Sri Lankan captain had other plans as he prolonged the momentum that Sri Lanka already had and scored the fastest half century by a Sri Lankan batter in T20I cricket breaking his own record that he made against Australia and took his team to an above par total of 225 runs.
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SL vs OMAN: The Chase
Chasing 226 runs to win, Oman never really got going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals courtesy of some disciplined bowling from the Sri Lankan bowlers, led by Dushmantha Chameera, who got the better of the opposition captain, Jatinder Singh
Chamera was well supported by other bowlers in the form of Matheesha Pathirana, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage and Dushan Hemantha.
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SL vs OMAN: The Performer
As far as Oman’s batting is concerned, the only shining light in an otherwise below-par performance was Mohammad Nadeem, who held one end up and scored a half-century, thereby ensuring that Oman went past the 100-run mark, which looked unlikely at one stage.
SL vs OMAN: The Scenario
The 109-run win has almost guaranteed a place in the Super Eight stage of the tournament for Sri Lanka, who also boosted their net run rate. Oman, on the other hand, will hope for a lot of things to go in their favour if they have to progress to the next round.
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