New Zealand prevailed over Sri Lanka in a crucial T20 World Cup match on Saturday, October 29. In this match, New Zealand won by 65 runs and took a big leap to enter the semi-final of the showpiece T20 event.
Batting first, New Zealand lost some quick wickets early on but then an excellent century from Glenn Phillips helped them to a respectable total. After that, Trent Bould and other New Zealand bowlers also bowled brilliantly and did not give any chance to Sri Lanka to come back in the match.
In this article, we are going to look at the 3 best innings in the match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
#1 Glenn Phillips (104 )
Batting first, New Zealand got off to a very poor start as they lost 3 of their key batsmen early and Sri Lanka completely dominated the match. In such circumstances, Glenn Phillips scored a brilliant century to give New Zealand a victory.
Phillips scored 104 runs off 64 balls with the help of 10 fours and 4 sixes. Importantly, Phillips continued to focus on strike rotation throughout the innings and did not allow the Sri Lankan spinners to pressure him.
#2 Bhanuka Rajapaksa (34)
Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s good form in the match against New Zealand is the biggest plus point for Sri Lanka. Chasing the target of 168 runs, Sri Lanka also got off to a poor start. But in this difficult situation, Rajapaksa played an aggressive innings of 34 runs.
The southpaw struck three fours and two towering sixes during his innings. As long as Rajapaksa was in the field, there was little hope of a Sri Lankan victory but after his dismissal, New Zealand somehow sealed the win.
#3 Dasun Shanaka (35)
In the match against New Zealand, Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka finally managed to perform satisfactorily in the T20 World Cup. Shanaka struggled with form almost throughout the tournament and his form was a concern for Sri Lanka.
But finally, he played a good knock against New Zealand. Even when wickets were falling from the other side, Shanaka took care of one side and scored 35 runs in 32 balls. Shanaka hit four boundaries and one six during this innings.
Shanaka’s innings helped Sri Lanka cross the 100-run mark when the New Zealand team seemed likely to get a huge win. The net run rate can be an important factor in the T20 World Cup and Shanaka’s innings can definitely benefit Sri Lanka in the next matches.
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