New Zealand has recovered from a poor start to crush Sri Lanka by 61 runs in the Twenty20 World Cup super eights stage and eliminate the co-hosts from the tournament.
Mitchell Santner led New Zealand’s recovery with a captain’s knock of 47 off 26 balls after coming in with his side in huge trouble at 5-84 to power them to a competitive 7-168 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Sri Lanka only managed 8-107 in reply, never recovering from a top-order collapse to succumb to their second defeat in this stage of the 20-team tournament.
Rachin Ravindra (4-27) and Matt Henry (2-3) impressed with the ball for New Zealand.
“It’s embarrassing to disappoint the home crowd; they’ve been very supportive,” Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said.
“We wanted to restrict them to 130 but, to be honest, they played really well, so we must give them credit.”
Having lost to England in their first super eight match, it was a do-or-die game for Sri Lanka and they initially showed a sense of urgency with the ball after electing to field.
New Zealand got off to a strong start before losing openers Finn Allen (23 off 13 balls) and Tim Seifert (8 off 9) in successive overs.
The Black Caps were 2-75 in the 10th over before the Sri Lankan spinners wreaked havoc to reduce them to 6-84, with Ravindra (32 off 22), Mark Chapman (0) and Daryl Mitchell (3) falling in the space of six balls for no run.
Santner joined Cole McConchie, who made 31 not out, in a rapid 47-ball stand of 84 that proved decisive.
Santner smacked four sixes as New Zealand plundered 70 runs from the last four overs to ensure their bowlers had a decent total to defend.
Henry bowled Pathum Nissanka for a duck with the first ball of the Sri Lankan innings and deceived Charith Asalanka (5) with a slower delivery in his next over.
Player of the match Ravindra then whittled out Sri Lanka’s middle order to derail the chase.
The left-arm spinner sent down a two-wicket over in which Kusal Mendis (11) and Pavan Rathnayake (10) were stumped to reduce Sri Lanka to 4-29 in the ninth over.
Ravindra also dismissed Shanaka (3) to effectively seal their victory.
Kamindu Mendis (31) and Dunith Wellalage (29) offered brief resistance but Sri Lanka was never in the chase.
Group Two leader England has qualified for the semifinals with four points from two matches.
New Zealand, which came into the match with one point from a washed-out match against Pakistan, has three points.
Reuters