Twitter Reactions: Chandimal and bowlers help Lanka brush aside South Africa in Colombo
Chandimal held his nerves and scored 36 runs to take his team over the finishing line.
The one-off T20I between Sri Lanka and South Africa turned out to be a low-scoring affair. Nonetheless, there wasn’t any dearth of excitement as both teams fought hard. Eventually, it was the home team which came out trumps by three wickets. The bowlers put the visitors’ batting under the pump following which the batsmen scored the runs with 24 deliveries to spare.
Bowlers strangle the Proteas
The visiting team won the toss and had no hesitation to bat first. The start wasn’t an auspicious one by any means for them as Hashim Amla perished for a four-ball duck to Dhananjaya de Silva. Quinton de Kock promised with four boundaries but succumbed to a run-out. Akila Dananjaya picked up Reeza Hendricks for 19 runs. The captain couldn’t make an impact and was dismissed for three runs.
The Proteas couldn’t garner any momentum in the rest of their innings and were shot out for 98 runs. Moreover, they were bowled out with 20 balls remaining in the innings. The likes of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller threatened, but couldn’t play till the end. Lakshan Sandakan was their most successful bowler with three wickets. De Silva and Dananjaya picked up a couple of wickets each.
Chandimal shepherds Lanka
The run chase was expected to be a doddle. Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis opened the batting, but Perera was nipped out by Kagiso Rabada. The speedster pinned Mendis in the same over to put the home team on the backfoot. Nevertheless, Dinesh Chandimal and de Silva put on 53 runs from 40 balls to bring the Lankans the firm favourites to win the match.
Junior Dala removed de Silva and in the very next over Tabraiz Shansi accounted for the wicket of Angelo Mathews. Dasun Shanaka fell prey to Dala after which Shamsi picked up his second wicket in the form of Thisara Perera. Dananjaya succumbed to the part-time off-breaks of Duminy. In the end, Chandimal held his nerves and scored 36 runs to take his team over the finishing line.
Here is how Twitter reacted
Download Our App