Sri Lanka vs West Indies, 2020: 2nd T20I – WI's winning streak against SL, Andre Russell's record series, Lasith Malinga's record worst spell and more stats

West Indies clinched the 2-match T20I series by 2-0 margin following a comfortable 7-wicket win in the last match of the series. Sri Lanka were limited to 155/6 as no batsman managed to score more than 31 runs. West Indies got a perfect start by scoring 61 runs in the powerplay as Brandon King smashed a 21-ball 43. Shimron Hetmyer anchored the chase with run-a-ball 43* while Andre Russell smashed six maximums during his unbeaten 40 that came in only 14 deliveries. The visitors completed the chase and series win with three overs to spare.

All the statistical highlights from West Indies’ maiden bilateral series win on Sri Lankan soil:

West Indies’ streak against Sri Lanka:

4 – West Indies has won each of their last four matches in the T20I format against Sri Lanka. The Lankans won six of their first seven meetings in the T20Is against West Indies. This 2-0 series win was West Indies’ first-ever bilateral series win on Sri Lankan soil.

Yet another defeat for Sri Lanka under Malinga:

1/14 – Sri Lanka has won only one T20I match under the captaincy of Lasith Malinga since the start of 2019. Malinga led Sri Lanka in 14 T20Is in this period out of which they lost 11 matches.

One game ended in a Tie which the Lankans lost in Super over while one more match was washed out before the first ball was bowled. The lone win came against New Zealand last year where Malinga took a 5-wicket haul including four wickets in four consecutive deliveries.

End of West Indies’ streak:

5 – West Indies put an end to their streak of five consecutive T20I series without a win. Their last T20I series win came in December 2018 against Bangladesh. West Indies lost all the four series played in 2019 and drew the recent T20I series at home against Ireland by 1-1.

A series to remember for Russell:

10 – Number of sixes hit by Andre Russell in this series; the 2nd most by a West Indies player in a bilateral T20I series of two or fewer games. Evin Lewis struck 12 sixes during the 2017 one-off T20I against India in Jamaica. Chris Gayle struck 15 sixes in the two matches he played during the 3-match series against South Africa in 2015.

267.85 – Andre Russell scored 75 runs in the 28 balls he faced at a strike rate of 267.85 in this series. This is the best strike rate for any player who faced at least 25+ balls in any T20I series/tournament. Russell bettered Mohammad Nabi’s 263.82 during the 2017 series against Ireland where he scored 124 runs from only 47 deliveries.

40* – Russell’s 40-run knock is the shortest score to include as many as six sixes in an innings in International cricket. The previous lowest score was 45 by Tom Cooper during the 2014 WT20 game against Ireland and 45* by Waheed Ahmed of UAE against Kuwait last month.

A tough match for Malinga:

15.33 – Lasith Malinga’s economy of 15.33 is now the worst for any captain in a T20I match where they bowled 3 or more overs. Malinga conceded 46 runs across the three overs he bowled in this game.

Interestingly, Malinga also holds the record for the best bowling figures for a captain with his 5/6 against New Zealand last year also in Pallekele.

Three 40s for West Indies in a game:

4 – Only the 4th instance of three players scoring 40+ runs for West Indies in the same T20I game. The other three such occasions are – vs England in 2007 The Oval T20I, vs India in 2016 WT20 semis and vs ICC World XI in 2018 Lord’s T20I.