There was a lot of talk of rain playing a decisive role during the New Zealand versus Sri Lanka match at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday. Thankfully, for New Zealand fans and for the crowd who turned up, the heavens did not open till the halfway.
Sri Lanka and their fans might have wished the rain had come to disrupt proceedings as they fell like nine pins to an all-round bowling masterclass by the fast bowlers and the spinners.
Trent Boult and Tim Southee had endured a harsh beating with the new ball from Fakhar Zaman in the previous game but the duo was on the money on Thursday, using the hint of swing on offer to good effect.
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Southee accounted for Pathum Nissanka in the second over of the innings, caught by Tom Latham who had dropped Kusal Perera off the previous ball.
Boult, who had not had the best of tournaments before the game, dented Sri Lanka further by removing captain Kusal Mendis for 6 and then sent Sri Lanka’s best batter Sadeera Samarwickrama back for 1, caught by Daryl Mitchell.
Even as New Zealand began their ascendancy in the game, Perera looked like batting on a different surface altogether as he went after the fast bowlers, taking Southee for 18 runs in the seventh over. He got to his fifty in 22 balls but was gone soon after as Lockie Ferguson, brought into the side for Ish Sodhi, removed the southpaw for a 28-ball 51.
Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva started a steady rebuild, putting on 34 runs for the sixth wicket which is when the Mitchell Santner show began. The left-arm spinner-the highest wicket-taker for the Kiwis in this tournament so far- teased away on a middle-stump line and accounted for both right-handers in the space of 11 deliveries, caught at slip, to leave the Lankans reeling at 105-7.
The Sri Lankan lower order put in a spirited resistance, led by Maheesh Theekshana’s 89-ball 38 but arguably New Zealand’s best batter in the tournament- Rachin Ravindra-added the finishing touches to the bowling performance on Thursday, claiming the final two wickets of the innings.
New Zealand had not run through Sri Lanka just through pace, but through an all-round bowling performance with both the quicks and spinners complementing each other very well to cause regular dents in the batting line-up and complete a bowling masterclass to help Kiwis get one step closer to the two points they so badly needed.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 171 all out in 46.4 overs (Perera 51, Theekshana 38; Boult 3-37, Santner 2-22) vs New Zealand.
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