Hasaranga leads rout against Zimbabwe in decider
The first two matches had tense finishes. This one was a walkover. Zimbabwe had begun with promise, hitting 35 off their first three overs. But they crumbled rapidly to spin thereafter, losing four wickets to Wanidu Hasaranga two to Maheesh Theekshana and one to Dhananjaya de Silva who was playing his first match of the series.
They lost their last nine wickets for 49 runs, and though this was a slow deck given to turn, Sri Lanka had no problems. They sped to the target in 10.5 overs, for the loss of only one wicket, thereby sealing the series 2-1. They had also won the ODIs 2-0.
Where Zimbabwe had shown some tenacity with the bat in their previous two matches, their middle and lower orders were especially meek in this match. In this 6 off 27 sequence, Tony Munyonga was first to go, mis-hitting a Hasaranga ball to the midwicket fielder who had just been installed, in the 10th over. De Silva then had Sean Williams caught and bowled next over, before Hasaranga had the hero of the last match – Luke Jongwe – caught at deep square leg off a top-edged sweep.
In his next over, Hasaranga struck twice, off his last two balls, both googlies. Wellington Masakadza was hit in front of the stumps. Richard Ngarava was bowled. Maheesh Theekshana completed the team hat-trick in the first ball of the next over by having Clive Madande caught sweeping.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 88 for 1 in 10.5 overs (Pathum Nissanka 39*, Kusal Mendis 33, Sean Williams 1-13) beat Zimbabwe 82 in 14.1 overs (Brian Bennett 29, Wanidu Hasaranga 4-15, Maheesh Theekshana 2-14, Angelo Mathews 2-15, Dilshan Madushanka 1-22, Dhananjaya de Silva 1-01) by nine wickets
(Cricinfo)
