The inaugural match of the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka failed to offer too much fireworks and as expected it turned out to be a one-way traffic for Sri Lanka. They dominated Zimbabwe right from the start and eventually registered a victory by a huge margin of 82 runs.

Sri Lanka who were put into bat first exploited the inexperienced bowling line-up of Zimbabwe and piled up a massive total of 182.

Zimbabwe coming onto bat started off cautiously but then succumbed to the spin bowling duo of Jeevan Mendis and Ajantha Mendis:

Here are the hits and flops of the match:

Sri Lanka:

Hits:

Tillakaratne Dilshan: Lot was expected from Dilshan and he delivered on the expected lines. He got Sri Lanka off to a good start and scored 39 of 28 deliveries. His innings was laced with five fours and the best part about his innings was that he played more on the ground than going for heaves. He waited for the loose deliveries and was good between the wickets which kept the scoreboard ticking in the first six overs.

Jeevan Mendis: Jeevan Mendis was the star of the match for Sri Lanka. First he played an unbeaten knock of 43 off 30 deliveries including four boundaries and a six to help the hosts to an intimidating target and then later on in the match scalped three wickets by giving away just 24 runs.

Kumar Sangakkara: Experienced Sangakkara who few days back grabbed handful of ICC awards was in his full element and carried his good from into the tournament. His partnership with Jeevan Mendis rescued the team from a spot of bother. He scored 44 off 26 deliveries laced with two boundaries and a six.

Ajantha Mendis: Ajantha Mendis made a remarkable comeback to the national side as he demolished Zimbabwe batting line up with his six wicket haul. Mendis who is returning after a gap of almost nine months took three wickets in his first spell and then came back later to scalp three more to wrap up the affairs. He ended with figures of 6-8 bettering his previous record of 6-16 against Australia. He was named the match of the match.

Zimbabwe:

Hits:

Prosper Utseya: The off spinner was the man responsible for slowing down Sri Lanka’s run-rate in the middle over. He bowled with great discipline and did not try too much and stuck to the basics. On a day when Sri Lankan batting was in full element he just gave away 25 runs in four overs.

Graeme Cremer: Cremer was the only bowler who managed to pick up a wicket in the match for Zimbabwe. He bowled a tight line throughout the match and picked up the wicket of dangerous Dilshan. He returned with figures of 27/1 in his stipulated four overs.

Flops:

Chris Mpofu: He is one of the most experienced bowlers of the side and the team depended on him a lot. But then he was off colors completely in the match and was carted for 49 runs in his four overs.

Brendan Taylor: One of the mainstay of the Zimbabwe batting order, he made a complete mess of himself in the middle. He was dismissed for a duck and it was his wicket that opened the floodgates.


By Indian Sports News Network