Twitter Reactions: Kusal Mendis century gives Sri Lanka series triumph

After a massive scare, Sri Lanka managed to evade a defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in the second Test at the Harare Sports Club. At the close of play on the fourth day, the home team had a realistic chance of rolling over Lanka and draw level in the series. However, the Islanders’ batters showed tremendous grit and resilience and the visitors went on to win the two-match series 1-0.

Mendis and Fernando hold ground

Zimbabwe, pretty surprisingly, played only a solitary delivery on the last day before they declared at 247 for seven. Sean Williams, the hosts’ skipper, smacked Suranga Lakmal for a six and then called it off. Most importantly, the Lankans were set with a huge target of 361. The visitors didn’t get off to a great start as fast bowler Carl Mumba found Dimuth Karunaratne’s outside edge in the 14th over.

But Oshada Fernando and Kusal Mendis ensured that Lanka went to lunch with only one wicket down. Both batters were on the verge of hard-fought half-centuries going into the break. The duo eventually went on to stitch together an 81-run stand to make Zimbabwe work hard for their wickets. But in the first over of the second session, Sikandar Raza trapped Fernando, who made 47.

Mendis comes to the party

Angelo Mathews put his head down for 69 balls before Victor Nyauchi pinned him. The Lankans still had a fair distance to travel in order to save the Test. At the other end, Mendis was in no mood to throw his wicket away. The right-hander looked unflappable and got to his fifty off 90 balls. Then he went on to score his century off 193 deliveries to make sure that Lanka don’t concede the match.

He stayed unbeaten on 116 off 233 with the help of 13 fours and one six. Dinesh Chandimal also spent 102 minutes in the middle for his 13 that came off 75 balls. For Zimbabwe, Raza turned out to be the work-horse. The off-spinner sent down 32 overs, but could only manage one wicket. Among the rest, Donald Tiripano and skipper Williams bowled 16 overs each without any success.

Here’s how Twitterati reacted to Lanka’s series win: –