Sri Lanka post 215/3 against West Indies in 1st T20I at Pallekele
Sri Lanka post 215/3 against West Indies in 1st T20I at Pallekele
Sri Lanka posted a mammith total of 215 runs for the loss of three wickets in their 20 overs against West Indies in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) at Pallekele. The hosts started off on a promising note and a score of 200 plus looked on the cards. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kusal Perera took on the West Indian bowlers from the very first over. They played the pumped West Indian attack with immense confidence and came out all guns blazing. They were scoring at a quick rate and often punished the lose deliveries. Dilshan was the destructor-in-chief and like an old wine he keeps on getting better with age. Runs came at 10 runs per over in the start and at the end of powerplay overs, Sri Lanka were happily placed at 65 for no loss. Live Blog: Sri Lanka vs West Indies 2015, 1st T20 at Pallekele
Sunil Narine exhibited some beautiful spin bowling in his first two overs as he gave away just five runs from it but didn’t manage to breach the partnership between Perera and Dilshan. West Indian skipper Darren Sammy tried his luck hard and experimented too much by using many bowlers and finally it reaped a productive result. Pollard drew the first blood when he got the the better of Kusal Perera who was beaten by pace. Dilshan continued to play his strokes and brought up a scintillating half-century. Moments later, Pollard once again stood up when his team needed the most. He shattered Dilshan’s off stump with a slower delivery when the batsman attempted a switch hit but missed the ball completely. LIVE SCORECARD: Sri Lanka vs West Indies, 1st T20 at Pallekele
Dinesh Chandimal walked in and commenced his innings with an exquisite boundary. He looked in good nick and was scoring at a quick pace. In the middle of everything, Narine silently delivered a quite over once again as he gave away just four runs from his third over and match’s 15th. He finally got a wicket in the final over of his spell as he got the better of Shehan Jayasuriya. Narine’s final over proved out to be a touch expensive but he still managed to finish off with figures of 4-0-20-1. Pollard did a reasonable job with the ball till the third over as he chipped couple of wickets and was economical. His figures were disrupted as he went for 23 runs in the final over of his spell.
Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal launched an attack on the opposition in the final over and ensured their team posted a total of 200 plus. West Indies have the batting line-up to chase down the target but they need to click. The pitch looks conducive for batting and expect a counter attack form the visitors at Pallekele.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 215 for 3 in 20 overs (Kusal Perera 40(30), Tillakaratne Dilshan 56(37) ; Kieron Pollard 2 for 42) against Sri Lanka