Sri Lanka’s Charit Aslanka reacts after being dismissed by Andre Russell of the West Indies during the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup match between Sri Lanka and West Indies in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, November 4, 2021.
Defending champions West Indies were knocked out of the T20 World Cup semi-final race after a 20-run loss to Sri Lanka here on Thursday as their aging stars failed to recreate the magic of the past.
After going into the game with two losses in three matches, West Indies were always against it and Sri Lanka bowled them out for 189 for three on a good batting surface. Pathum Nisanka (51 off 41) and Charit Aslanka (68 off 41) scored brilliant half-centuries to give Sri Lanka the lead. Despite this, West Indies could only manage 169 runs for eight wickets. Shimron Hetmyer81 not out in 54 balls.
Leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga once again took two wickets for 19 runs in four overs with the ball. West Indies, having won two of the last three world titles, are now mathematically out of the competition with two points from four matches. His last match is against Australia on Saturday.
Sri Lanka’s batsmen played with freedom and flair to set a challenging target, which proved to be very tough for West Indies, who could never recover from a poor start to run chase.
For Sri Lanka, it was their first win of the Super 12 stage and they go home looking forward to a bright future. West Indies’ forgettable campaign shows the need to look beyond such greats Chris Gayle And dwayne bravo When rebuilding before the 2022 version.
Gayle’s struggle continued and he was the first to depart for the West Indies. Pacer Binura Fernando removed Gayle and Evin Lewis To put enormous pressure on the opposition in the second over.
Nicholas Pooran (46) and Hetmyer batted well but wickets at regular intervals kept West Indies behind in the chase.
Earlier in form Nissanka and Aslanka enjoyed batting on the surface. Nissenka played some shocking strokes during his third half-century of the tournament. If the switch hit wasn’t bowled enough, the opener went across the off stump to hit Ravi Rampaul towards square leg for a boundary.
Aslanka also hit a brilliant half-century and one of the highlights of his innings was the six off Dwayne Bravo.
With nothing to lose, the Sri Lankan batsmen played to their promising potential and made the West Indies attack on foot. He also demonstrated that the future of Sri Lankan batting lies in capable hands and with more experience at the highest level, they will only get better.
Sri Lanka scored 48 for one wicket in the powerplay. Kusal PereraHe scored 29 runs in 21 balls. Andre Russell took a brilliant catch to dismiss him.
Nissenka and Aslanka came together again to put the West Indies attack under tremendous pressure with their free-flowing strokeplay. Aslanka went ballistic after Nisanka’s dismissal. In the 18th over, he hit a straight six off Bravo and then hit a boundary over the bowler’s head.
Captain Dasun Shanka also played an unbeaten 25 off 14 balls in the death overs.
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