A big victory was completed by Sri Lanka against United Arab Emirates, Group A in Geelong.
With the bat, Sri Lanka dominated the first 14 overs before faltering severely against the hat-trick-winning legspinner Karthik Meiyappan. However, Sri Lanka recovered well enough to score 152 for 8. Pathum Nissanka’s 74 off 60 balls played a significant role in this.
After the Asia Cup champions, who had been destroyed by Namibia by 55 runs in their opening game, were derailed by spinner Karthik Meiyappan’s hat-trick, Sri Lanka’s opener Pathum Nissanka scored a responsible 74 to help Sri Lanka post 152 for eight.
Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera each had three-wicket hauls.
Karthik Meiyappan took a hat-trick for the UAE, and Zahoor Khan claimed two wickets for the team. Later, Pathum Nissanka contributed 74 runs to Sri Lanka’s 152/8 total after 20 overs. Afzal Khan led UAE in scoring with 19 runs, as no other batter could reach the 20-run threshold.
Pathum Nissanka: Player of the match
Pathum Nissanka, Sri Lanka’s opening batsman, struggled against Namibia in the first game, but the gifted hitter is predicted to play well in the second one. Nissanka can try to bat for the entire 20 overs and aid his team in amassing a large total.
Nissanka got off to a steady start, scoring three fours to reach 25 points off of 17 in the powerplay. In the middle overs, he was the only batsman to strike a boundary against Karthik, smashing him over cow corner for six (though he top-edged Karthik in the next over, only for the ball to fall in between three fielders).
He barely achieved his half-century off the 45th ball, but he played superbly in the final few overs, when Sri Lanka sorely needed explosions. In the 19th over, off Junaid Siddique, he hit a six over midwicket and a four through long-off to help revive a sluggish innings. He held Sri Lanka’s innings together with his 74 off 64 balls.
The Star Spinner Wanindu Hasaranga
In the first game, star spinner Wanindu Hasaranga bowled a critical spell and picked up some crucial wickets for his team. Hasaranga tried to build recent success with the ball and took a couple more significant wickets for his team.
Despite Sri Lanka’s score being more of a competitive total than a commanding one, their bowlers fiercely defended it, with the quicks decimating UAE’s top order before the middle order was hacked apart by the spinners. UAE went from 21 for 4 to 42 for 7 to 73 all out, never seeming to have the upper hand in the chase.
Hat-trick by Karthik Meiyappan
Karthik had performed admirably in his opening two overs, giving up just 14, but he turned Sri Lanka’s innings on its head in the third. Karthik bowled it flat and wide to Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was eager to get his maiden boundary. The batter reached for the ball, hit it over extra cover, and it went to the fielder in the deep.
Then two magnificent googlies appeared, the initial one went to left-handed Charith Asalanka, who pushed forward and fired an outside edge to the goalkeeper. In his attempt to block the hat-trick ball with the second delivery, Dasun Shanaka completely ignored the variation and left a gap between bat and pad, which Karthik’s delivery wriggled through to strike the stumps.
It was the first hat-trick for the UAE in any T20 international and the fifth hat-trick overall at a T20 World Cup.
United Arab Emirates loss
When Chameera bowled Muhammad Waseem and Aryan Lakra in the third over of the innings, uprooting three stumps between the two dismissals, the collapse really began. Prior to Sri Lanka’s other seamer, Pramod Madushan, dismissing Chirag Suri with another soaring dismissal of the stumps, he had skipper CP Rizwan caught at mid-off.
UAE had reached 30 for 4 after seven overs when Hasaranga took control of the situation. He began with a maiden, then in the following over, Vriitya Aravind was declared out by review. Maheeesh Theekshana grabbed two for himself while he claimed two more wickets.
If they had kept all of their catches, Sri Lanka could have ended the game sooner, but they decided to end it with the first ball of the 18th over.
Conclusion
The victory significantly improved Sri Lanka’s run-rate (they are now up to +0.6), which could be important if three teams finish with four points on Thursday. Due to the fact that they would need to defeat Namibia by a good margin on Thursday in order to advance to the main draw, the loss all but eliminated UAE from contention.
ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Sri Lanka Beat United Arab Emirates Despite Karthik Meiyappan Hat-Trick
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