Hambantota: Some superb death over batting by Kumar Sangakkara and Jeevan Mendis and outstanding spin bowling from Ajantha Mendis helped Sri Lanka defeat Zimbabwe by 82 runs in the first match of the ICC T20 World Cup.
Zimbabwe chasing a target of 183 runs did not have any answer to Sri Lankan spinners as Ajantha Mendis took the best ever figure in international T20s by a bowler taking 6-8. His partner in crime was Jeevan Mendis who took three wickets.
Earlier in the day, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bowl first. The visitors bowled well and did not allow the Sri Lankan openers to break free, Sri Lanka lost both their openers at the halfway stage with the score reading 75. Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene was not looking as his usual self and was run-out in the 12th over. At that stage it was looking that the Lankans will do really well to reach the score of 160.
But, Kumar Sangakkara (44) and Jeevan Mendis (43*) had other ideas, they rotated the strike beautifully and ran hard between the wicket. Zimbabwean fielders did not help their cause as the errors kept creeping up. Sri Lankan in the last five overs scored 53 runs and got to an impressive total.
The chase was always going to be hard on the Zimbabwean batsmen, both Masakadza and Sibanda looked to attack the new ball bowlers, they did pretty well but it all changed once Ajantha Mendis came into bowl. Mendis in his first over got two wickets on two balls, he claimed Sibanda and the captain Brendon Taylor. From there Zimbabwe could never recover and kept loosing wickets.
Jeevan Mendis after his heroics with the bat did not disappoint with the ball as he too got two wickets in his first over. On the other end, the other Mendis kept chipping away with the wickets, the Zimbabwean batsmen had no answer to his mystery and surrendered meekly. Ajantha Mendis for his superb performance got the man of the match award.
Brief Score:
Sri Lanka 182/4 (Sangakkara 44, Jeevan Mendis 43*)
Zimbabwe 100 (Masakadza 20, Ajantha Mendis 6-8, Jeevan Mendis 3-24)
