New Zealand are ruthless, cool under pressure and thoughtful in times of crisis. Their blend of tenacity and brazenness has made them a constant threat in showcase matches at the ICC.
They were in trouble at 84/6 tonight at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, but after being asked to bat first in the crucial Super 8 match, they scored 70 runs in the last four overs to complete a thrilling comeback to 168/7. In response, Sri Lanka’s all-too-familiar batting failure came back to haunt them and they could only manage 107/8, allowing New Zealand to win by 61 runs. As a result, Sri Lanka was eliminated from this T20 World Cup, while New Zealand reached the semi-finals.
Central to New Zealand’s win was their bowling, led by skilled paceman Matt Henry, who embodied the ethos of New Zealand cricket: underrated, unfussy and efficient. He struck out on the first delivery, yanking the ball sharply out of the seam to neutralize Sri Lanka’s in-form opener Pathum Nissanka, whose feet had nowhere to go as he fell for a duck. Henry then dismissed fellow opener Charith Asalanka, whose slower serve was beautifully disguised, leaving Sri Lanka in trouble at 20/2 in the Powerplay.
Once Nissanka was dismissed, Sri Lanka’s batting collapsed in dire circumstances. There was little apparent intention and no clear plan against the New Zealand bowlers. Sometimes, acting recklessly only accelerates a slippery slope. On sluggish pavement, they struggled to penetrate the field, failed to rotate their offense, and allowed the pressure to suffocate them. New Zealand uses 17 overs of spin. Just like their previous game against England, their game against New Zealand lacked momentum. Kamindu Mendis tops Sri Lanka’s scoring list with 31 points.
Rachin Ravindra’s left-arm spin exposed their weaknesses with such precision that he finished with career-best figures of 4/27, underlining the struggles Sri Lanka’s batting has struggled in this T20 World Cup.
The decisive batting moment for New Zealand was when captain Mitchell Santner (47 off 26b, 2×4, 4×6) and Cole McConchie (31 off 23b, 3×4, 2×6*) put together a stunning 84-run combination for the seventh wicket, a New Zealand record in T20Is.
New Zealand looked to be in trouble as they combined for 84/6, but the pair’s fearless batting changed the course of the match. Together they pushed New Zealand to a total that looked more competitive than the mid-innings collapse might have suggested.
Barring those four crazy overs at the end, Sri Lanka’s bowlers dominated the game. Maheesh Theekshana (3/30) confounded the batsmen with flicking spin and deceptive carom balls, while pacer Dushmantha Chameera (3/38) mixed pace deftly to force New Zealand into mistakes.
Still, the New Zealander left with a smile on his face.
