Bruised Sri Lanka loses the T20 series and World No.1 Ranking

Sri Lanka was completely humiliated by New Zealand as they lose the second and final T20I game by 9 wickets at Auckland on Sunday as the Kiwis won the series, 2-0.

Marlon Guptill and Colin Munro smashed two belligerent record breaking half-centuries after Angelo Mathews’ fighting knock gave glimpse of a hope but the destructive New Zealand batting tarnished them. Sri Lankans were once again annihilated as their batting and bowling were once again disappointing.
 
Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to chase. Gunathilaka started off in his usual aggressive approach but he was castled in the second over by Adam Milne. Dilshan did not find his usual rhythm but did not lose his wicket yet one-drop batsman Shehan Jayasuriya and skipper Dinesh Chandimal went for expansive cross-bat shots which ended up in the hands of the New Zealand fielders.

The poor mentality of the Lankans was evident through the poor shot-selection on a multi-dimensional ground which had short boundaries in front of the wicket. The visitors fell to the honey trap of going it hard instead of timing the ball and being smart.

The Kiwis bowled it on a good length which was not easy to put away with the ‘Tennis Ball’ like bounce on offer. Dilshan’s feverish innings of 28 off 26 balls ended when his attempted switch-hit mistimed off Grant Elliott.

Sri Lanka’s most reliable middle-order batsman during this tour, Milinda Siriwardana fell for a golden duck as he too perished before settling in. Kithruwan Vithanage who replaced Chamara Kapugedara did not grab the opportunity with both hands as he too miss-timed a slog shot.

Mathews once again became the lone fighter for Sri Lanka as he managed to clear the ropes with ease and find the gaps without any hesitation. He played smartly to take his country to a respectable score. Thisara Perera and Isuru Udana fell in the same 16th over as part-time medium pacer, Elliott ended up with his best T20I figures of 4 for 22.

Mathews posted his best T20I score as he carried his team to a decent total of 142 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs, which is a below-par score at this venue. He stroked 7 fours and 4 sixes during his responsible knock of 81 off 49 balls.

Chasing 143 runs to win, Sri Lanka’s most envied batsman, Martin Guptill took apart the Lankan bowlers as he raced to the fastest New Zealand half-century in T20I cricket. He hit it clean as a whistle as the fielders became spectators and the spectators became fielders to notch up his half-century in just 19 balls.

Guptill’s 25-ball thrashing of 63 ended in only the 7th over when he was caught behind off Thisara Perera’s bowling. New Zealand stroked a massive 82 in the first six overs while the visitors made only 37 losing 2 wickets.

One-drop batsman Colin Munro ended the disastrous Lankan tour with yet another onslaught of 50 off 14 balls as he broke Martin Guptill’s New Zealand record which lasted only 20 minutes. The left-hander smashed 7 sixes during his spending innings as he made the second-fastest T20I fifty behind only to Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball 50.

New Zealanders reached the target in just 10 overs as they utterly crushed Sri Lanka to complete the third trophy of the tour, Test, ODI and T20I.

With this brutal defeat, Sri Lanka will now drop to the third position in the ICC World T20 Rankings after holding the pole position since August 2012. This tour should be forgotten by Sri Lanka in terms of the results as they were made to like a club team by the dominant Blackcaps.