Sri Lanka end defending champion West Indies' hopes of T20 World Cup semis
- 04 Nov 2021
Sri Lanka ended defending champion West Indies' slim hopes of advancing to the semifinals with an emphatic 20-run victory in their last T20 World Cup game on Thursday.
Young batters Charith AsaLanka (68) and Pathum Nissanka (51) toyed with the seven-man West Indies attack in raising Sri Lanka’s highest total of 189-3 in their final Group 1 game by slamming powerful half centuries.
In reply, West Indies, which won the toss and elected to field, lost their power hitters cheaply before getting restricted at 169-8.
Shimron Hetmyer narrowed the defeat with a fighting unbeaten 81 off 54 balls, but Sri Lanka always looked favorite to finish on winning note.
The 42-year-old Chris Gayle could score only 1, Andre Russell made only 9 while the world’s new No. 1 T20 bowler, legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga (2-19), clean bowled Dwayne Bravo (1) and captain Kieron Pollard for zero as West Indies lost wickets with regular intervals in a steep chase.
Inexperienced Sri Lanka bowed out of the tournament with four points, defeating Bangladesh and West Indies while losing to England, South Africa and Australia.
Two-time champion West Indies, having a solitary win over Bangladesh, takes on Australia in their last group game on Saturday.
The champions have two points from three games and must beat Sri Lanka, who are already eliminated, as well as Australia to have any chance of making the last-four.
Even then, they will still need other results to go their way while also needing to improve their poor run rate.
"There's a lot of different things around, the mathematical equations, but as a team we are comfortable and hopefully can do well," said West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard.
West Indies are unchanged for the match while Sri Lanka, who are playing their final game of the tournament, brought in Binura Fernando for fellow seamer Lahiru Kumara.
"We tried our best, but our batting department hasn't really worked. If it really clicked, we could have made it to the semis," said Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera (wk), Charith Asalanka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Chamika Karunaratne, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Binura Fernando
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard (capt), Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Dwayne Bravo, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Langton Rusere (ZIM)
TV Umpire: Paul Wilson (AUS)
Match Referee: David Boon (AUS)
Agencies
