New Zealand recovered from a poor start to crush Sri Lanka by 61 runs in the Twenty20 World Cup Super Eights and eliminate the co-hosts from the tournament on Wednesday.
Mitchell Santner led New Zealand’s recovery with a captain’s knock of 47 off 26 balls after coming in with his side in huge trouble at 84-5 to power them to a competitive 168-7 at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Sri Lanka managed 107-8 in reply, never recovering from a top-order collapse to succumb to their second defeat in the Super Eight stage of the 20-team tournament.
Rachin Ravindra (4-27) and Matt Henry (2-3) impressed with the ball for New Zealand.
“It’s embarrassing to disappoint the home crowd, they’ve been very supportive,” Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said.
“We wanted to restrict them to 130 but, to be honest, they played really well so we must give them credit.”
Having lost to England in their first Super Eight match, it was a do-or-die game for Sri Lanka and they initially showed a sense of urgency with the ball after electing to field.
–Reuters–
