The visually impaired Sri Lankan cricketers created a major upset against the Nepal team in their second match in the inaugural Twenty20 Blind Cricket World Cup, worked off at the Central College Cricket Ground, Bangalore on Monday (3).
Winning the toss, Nepal invited Sri Lanka to bat first. The decision to field first seemed to have back-fired the Nepal team, as the Sri Lankans dominated the game and piled up a gigantic total of 314 for the loss of three wickets, in the allocated 20 overs.
For Sri Lanka, Dimuthu Ravindra put up a mammoth 134 runs from his bat. The B1 (completely blind) category player smashed the ball into every corner of the field. Ravindra was well supported by Chandana Deshapriya, who contributed a much needed 79 runs from his bat. Nepal’s poor bowling attack was a blessing for Deshapriya who contributed 12 boundaries out of 16 in the Sri Lankan innings.
Deshapriya was once described as ‘a replica of Sanath Jayasuriya’ by the commentators. Ravindra helped Sri Lanka score 273 before being bowled out by Amar Oli.
Sulochana Gunewardena scored 29 runs while Chandana Kumara scored 16 runs for Sri Lanka.
The poor bowling performances of the Nepali team were highlighted upon the number of extras conceded: 35 wides, 19 no balls and 4 leg byes.
Chasing the gigantic target of 315, Nepal had a terrible start as they lost their opener Surya Prasad Bhattarai when the score board had just started ticking for the Nepalis. Opener Bikram Bahadur Rana and Ram Prasad Poudel tried their best but failed to score against the well-focused Sri Lankan bowling attack.
Brief scores are as follows:
Nepal won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to Bat
Sri Lanka – 314 in 19 overs
B1 player Dimuthu Ravindra (Ranaviru Sevana) – 134
B2 player Sulochana Gunawardena (CEI) – 29
B3 player Chandana Kumara (CEI) – 16
B1 player Saman Kumara (Tangalle Blind School) – 11
B3 player Deshapriya (Subhagya MV Monaragala) – 75
Nepal – 134/6 in 19 overs
Poudel – 13
Rana – 26
Santosh Sapkota – 4
Shankar Regmi – 16
Sunil Subedi – 8
Amar Oli – 21 (not out)
Padam Bahadur Badela – 25
Sri Lanka recorded a 178-run victory against Nepal. They faced Australia in their third match in the tournament. Await a detailed report on ThePapare.com.
