T20 World Cup 2024: SL vs SA - Who said What?

South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets to win their first T20 World Cup game of the campaign. On a surface that should be rated poor, the Lankan Lions struggled right from the start and it continued in the second innings as well. The drop in pitches was not suitable for the batters and it resulted in a below-par match among two of the favourites of the tournament.

After winning the toss, Lanka skipper Wanindu Hasaranga decided to bat first but the decision soon turned into a nightmare. South Africa pacers troubled the ‘host’ team in the powerplay as they managed to score only 24 runs in the powerplay. Scoring runs looked extremely difficult as whenever Sri Lanka wanted to break loose, wickets were falling. The intent was there and that resulted in their downfall.

The ideal plan should have been to stick to singles and doubles but Sri Lanka failed to understand that. Anrich Nortje was top-notch with the ball as he gave away just seven runs in his four overs and picked up four wickets as well. Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada picked up two each as Sri Lanka posted just 77 runs - their lowest total in T20I history.

When it came to the chase, South Africa too were not very comfortable. They struggled but Sri Lankan players failed to cash in. Skipper Hasaranga came into the attack after the 10th over, while Maheesh Theekshana bowled just one over. On a surface that would have helped them, Hasaranga and the team management’s decision was baffling. Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller managed to stick to the end and got the job done.

1. What is with the surface?

During the game, legendary commentator Harsha Bhogle tweeted that the conditions will not help cricket grow in USA and likely so. Both teams had the quality to produce a better match from a neutral point of view but the surface never helped. It was extremely on the slower side and resulted in a low-scoring affair. New York will host multiple key matches this season and if it continues like this, fans may lose interest. 

2. Sri Lanka’s questionable tactics

Not bringing Hasaranga and Theekshana early on made no sense. They could have put pressure on South Africa but the team chose not to. That’s arguably where Sri Lanka lost the game. Even with the bat, they rushed a bit at one point which could have been ignored. If the team had focused on singles or doubles and posted something around 100, the result could have been different.

3. Anrich Nortje’s spell

Nortje gave away just seven runs in his four overs. A stat that seems impossible was made possible by Nortje against Sri Lanka. He also picked up four wickets which crushed Sri Lanka’s batting in New York.

Losing captain Wanindu Hasaranga said:

Our batters tried for 160-170. To be honest this was a 120 wicket especially with our bowlers. We went with our strength - our bowling, that's why we batted first. We wanted to put a score and then defend. This is early in the tournament and we have three more games, we want to do much better, especially with our batting talent. If our batting does well, we can finish well.

Winning captain Aiden Markram said:

Happy with the win. The batting was little up and down, probably speaks to quite a tough wicket and luckily we found ways to score on this. It was a tough one from a batting point of view, we try as much as we can to take the pitch out of it, we can take some learnings from it and we are experienced. Lots of different conditions as we move around, fortunately we have our next two here so we know what's coming but it's important to adapt as we go ahead. [on Nortje] Was not worried about him but a fantastic day for him, from a mental confidence point of view. He is massively loved in the changeroom, boys are incredibly happy and proud of him, hopefully this kicks off a great World Cup for him.

POTM Anrich Nortje said:

Definitely, this will get some momentum going. Tough few days, we've worked hard and it's nice to get some momentum. Very happy, I've been feeling good from the last few games, finally great to have a good game and get a few wickets. The guys did well to restrict them to a low score. Been a while since I got many wickets and was happy to be helpful in the team's win. We needed to assess as quickly as possible (on the conditions), it was up and down at times (on the wicket), I needed to hit my straps, hit the wicket hard, it was important that we got some early wickets. It was a tough one, practicing on these drop-in wickets is hard, we weren't able to bowl on the pitch on the pre-match day, the plans were simple, that helped me, I just need to get my rhythm better in the next few games.