The Pendulum swung to and fro , and credit must be given to Zimbabwe for getting close to a challenging target of 299 runs, and falling short by only 7 runs.
Sri Lanka was put into bat, but Nishan Madushka looked a fish out of water, opening the batting with his footwork so appalling. Hence, is he a strokeless wonder? Wonder what the coach , captain, and selectors have in their mind.
Asalanka states he has no choice but to go with 7 batters and 4 bowlers, but the missing link of the 5th bowler cost 80 runs , as the duties of the 5th bowler were shared between Asalanka, Kamindu Mendis and Janith Liyanage.
He also stated that bringing in an all-rounder could be worse. School of thought is bring the all-rounder in and open the batting with Pathum and Kusal Mendis, end of the day, Nishan Madushka with his technical defects looks out of form to open at this level.
The well compiled 100-run partnership between Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis for the 2nd wicket kept Sri Lanka in the game upfront in which Pathum Nissanka with his 76 runs off 87 deliveries with 12 boundaries and Kusal Mendis, his contribution of 38 was worth its weight in gold.
Sri Lankain trouble after the departure of Sadeera Samarawickrema for 35, and the back to back dismissal of Charith Asalanka for 6 in the 37th over saw the visitors slump to 161 for 5 wickets which brought in relatively 2 new batters namely Janith Liyanage and Kamindu Mendis to the crease.
Had Sri Lanka lost one of these last recognised batters, it was the bowlers next, hence, ZImbabwe could have cashed In to keep Sri Lanka under 250 runs.
The excellent partnership between Janith and Kamindu 137 runs in 87 balls with 113 runs scored in the last 10 overs helping the visitors to reach 298 runs for 6 wickets in their allotted 50 overs. Janith Liyanage 70 in 47 balls with 3 sixes, and 6 boundaries, ably supported by Kamindu Mendis 57 runs in 39 deliveries in which he punched 2 massive sixes and 4 boundaries, proved the pair had excellent skills in not only power hitting but the game awareness to bat till the end was great to watch.
Zimbabwe leaked runs using just one ball after the 34th over. This incidentally is the new rule in 50 over cricket. In other words, we use 2 new balls up until the 34th over, but bowl the final 17 overs with one ball only.
Zimbabwe fielding was very impressive. They took all the catches, but their bowling let them down in the death overs.
Richard Ngarava9ó took 2 for 34, sadly Blessing Muzambarani was expensive 1 for 65 , but Sikanda Raza with 1 for 48 and Brad Evans even though wicketless was very impressive.
299 as a target is no doubt herculean. Zimbabwe lost 2 wickets for no runs in the very first over of Asitha Fernando. Then came the fascinating partnership of 118 runs for the 3rd wicket between Shawn Williams and Ben Curren that kept Zimbabwe on blon the hunt.
Williams 57 and Curren 70 took the game away from Sri Lanka. But they threw it away , playing unorthodox executions gifting their wickets.
The home team too fell into trouble by losing wickets in clusters as their run chase took a nose dive with the score on 161 for 5 wickets, but the comfort zone was, they were well ahead of the required run rate.
Sikanda Raza 92 and Munyonga unbeaten on 43 , just needed 10 runs only in the final over.
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Madushanka, the left arm seamer who was taken to the cleaners by Sikanda,p Williams, Curren, and even Munyonga, was given the responsibility of bowling the last over with 5 fielders inside the circle due to a penalty for the slow over rate by the Sri Lankan bowlers was tricky to state the least. Madushanka gets a hat-trick, and he dismissed Sikanda for 92, followed by Evans for no score, and claimed his hat-trick by disturbing the timber of Ngarana for no score in conceding only 2 runs in an excellent spell in the 50th over to give Sri lanka the unlikely victory by 7 runs to go 1 up in the 2 match series.
Amazing performance that won him the man of the match award.