Kusal Mendis delivered a resilient batting performance alongside Kamindu Mendis, before the spin duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana guided Sri Lanka to a commanding 20-run victory against Ireland in their T20 World Cup encounter in Colombo on Sunday. Kusal crafted an unbeaten 56 from 43 deliveries while Kamindu Mendis accelerated the innings with a brisk 44 from 19 balls, helping Sri Lanka bounce back from an early wobble to reach a competitive 163 for six. Chasing the target, Ireland were undone by the exceptional spin bowling of Wanindu Hasaranga (3/25) and Maheesh Theekshana (3/23), who maintained tight control throughout as the visitors were bowled out for 143 in 19.5 overs. Ireland’s bowling attack, spearheaded by George Dockrell (2/17), had initially dominated proceedings, reducing Sri Lanka to a precarious 68 for 3 after 11 overs. However, Kusal anchored the innings with a patient half-century under challenging circumstances, establishing a solid foundation before Kamindu unleashed a late assault, striking four boundaries and two maximums to bolster the final total.
TOSS
Ireland won the toss and elected to bowl first.
PLAYING XI
Sri Lanka (Playing XI):
Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis(w), Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka(c), Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana
Ireland (Playing XI):
Paul Stirling(c), Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w), Curtis Campher, Benjamin Calitz, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys
SRI LANKA
Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara opened with positive intent, though the latter benefited from two missed opportunities during Barry McCarthy’s erratic over. After accumulating 28 runs in four overs, Mark Adair’s variation proved decisive as Mishara fell to a gentle slower delivery, offering a simple catch to mid-off to conclude his fortunate innings. Kusal Mendis found his rhythm by dispatching three boundaries in a Barry McCarthy over, propelling Sri Lanka to 50 at the conclusion of the PowerPlay.
The momentum then shifted dramatically. Matthew Humphreys had initially established control with his economical left-arm deliveries in the opening over. Subsequently, George Dockrell and Gareth Delany wove their spin trap from opposite ends, causing the boundary flow to cease entirely. Nissanka and Kusal Mendis were reduced to collecting singles and doubles, working the strike with growing urgency. The scoreboard crawled forward at a snail’s pace, with 56 consecutive balls failing to yield a single boundary.
Basically, Nissanka scored 24 runs from 23 balls and tried to hit big, but he just cut the ball to extra cover where Stirling caught it the same way. Further, sri Lanka surely found themselves in trouble at 71 for 3 in the 11th over when Pavan Rathnayake was bowled middle stump. Moreover, his decision to play a ramp shot against Dockrell’s arm ball was quite puzzling. The boundary drought was actually ended in the 16th over when Kamindu Mendis definitely played a reverse sweep. By that time, the T20I format itself had seen only the seventh case where a team did not score any boundary in the middle overs (7-15) when batting all nine overs. This further showed how rare such batting performance was in cricket history.
As per the match situation, the 17th over was the turning point regarding the game’s outcome. Matthew Humphreys actually gave away 21 runs in just six balls when Ireland definitely dropped three catches and played badly in the field. This completely destroyed their good work from earlier when they bowled 13 overs of spin bowling. The return of fast bowling surely made things worse, as Barry McCarthy’s 19th over became complete chaos with 19 runs and two wickets in 11 balls. Moreover, the over included several wides, no-balls, and even a dangerous beamer. Basically Kamindu scored 44 runs from 19 balls before getting out, and the same happened to Dasun Shanaka on his first ball, but they had already done enough damage. Basically, Mark Adair bowled a tight final over giving away only nine runs, but it was the same as just a small detail in the bigger picture. Basically, Sri Lanka scored 59 runs in the last four overs, changing their score from 104 for 3 to the same as 163 for 6.
IRELAND-
We are seeing that this good play was very important as Ireland started well with 45 runs in the PowerPlay, and Ross Adair only made a bright start. Once he surely fell to Hasaranga’s googly, Ireland’s chase followed the same pattern in the middle overs as scoring boundaries became difficult. Moreover, the team struggled to maintain momentum after losing this key wicket. As per the 15th over, the score was still 105 for 2 with Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker batting steadily, so there was still hope regarding the match. Then another spinner, Dunith Wellalage, actually opened the floodgates when he got Tucker to hit a bad shot to long-on. Tucker definitely made a mistake and got out.
As per the match progress, Hasaranga came back and got Tector out at deep mid-wicket, then Theekshana bowled out Benjamin Calitz and George Delany in back-to-back balls. Basically, Ireland lost 8 wickets for just 38 runs and got bowled out with one ball left, which gave Sri Lanka the same two points they needed to get their campaign going well.
We are seeing that Ireland tried to chase the target and came close for some time, but they could only manage to lose by 20 runs as Sri Lanka’s strong spin bowlers, especially Maheesh Theekshana who took three wickets along with Hasaranga, stopped them from scoring fast.
Brief Scores:
As per the match results, Sri Lanka scored 163/6 in 20 overs with Kusal Mendis making 56 runs and Kamindu Mendis scoring 44 runs, while George Dockrell took 2 wickets for 20 runs. Regarding Ireland’s innings, they were bowled out for 143 runs in 19.5 overs with Harry Tector scoring 40 runs, as Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana took
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