DUBAI: Sri Lanka became the first team to progress from the First Round of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 into the Super 12s after an emphatic 70-run win against Ireland on Wednesday.
Wanindu Hasaranga hit 71 with the bat as the 2014 champions made 171 for seven batting first, before Maheesh Theekshana’s mystery spin helped them dismiss Ireland for 101 in Abu Dhabi.
In another match, David Wiese produced a stunning knock as Namibia dug themselves out of a precarious position to beat the Netherlands by six wickets to record their first victory in T20 World Cup 2021.
Sri Lanka are the only side in Group A with two wins from two and, with Ireland facing Namibia in the final round of games, they are assured of a place in the Super 12s, while also knowing that a win over Netherlands on Friday will see them top the table and join England, Australia, West Indies and South Africa in Group 1 as team A1.
Meanwhile, Ireland and Namibia face off in a mouth-watering match that will see the winners also qualify for the Super 12s.
Ireland arrived at Sheikh Zayed Stadium with their tails up following a handsome seven-wicket success against Netherlands in their opening game and had the confidence to field when they won the toss.
That put Sri Lanka in and all eyes were on their top order after head coach Mickey Arthur admitted on the eve of this contest that scoring runs is their weakness. Unfortunately for the Lions, that continued in the early stages.
With just the second ball of the innings, Kusal Perera spooned a well-flighted Paul Stirling off-break to cover, where Gareth Delany made a spectacular catch by diving forwards and just getting his fingers underneath the ball.
That brought Dinesh Chandimal to the crease, the 31-year-old just 56 runs short of 1000 in T20 internationals. But he only added six to his total, after dragging a Josh Little delivery back onto his stumps.
Little then made it two wickets in two balls, with a superb delivery that seamed through Avishka Fernando’s bat and pad and upended off stump. After ten balls, Sri Lanka were eight for three.
Arthur changed his batting order and sent in big-hitting all-rounder Hasaranga to get the scoreboard moving.
The right-hander did just that after a cautious start, punching a four through the covers off Little and then finishing the power play with four successive fours off Simi Singh, as Sri Lanka reached 47 for three.
Hasaranga stayed on the front foot as he clubbed a massive six over long on at the end of the eighth over and led Sri Lanka to 78 for three at the halfway stage of their innings.
