Returning from the suspension due to breaching the ICC spirit of cricket rules during their last tour in West Indies in July, Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal bravely guided the Sri Lankan team to secure a thrilling victory in the low-scoring only home T20I against the visitors South Africa.
Sri Lanka decided to field first after winning the toss in this one-off T20I match at R.Premadasa Stadium (Khettarama, Colombo). Apart from the opener and wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock (20 runs), none of the other South African batsmen reached the 20-run mark in that innings as the visitors were bundled out for just 98 runs in 16.4 overs.
Among the Sri Lankan bowlers, the left-arm chinaman bowler Lakshan Sandakan (3/19) picked up three wickets. Also, Dhananjaya de Silva (2/22) and Akila Dananjaya (2/15) picked up two wickets each while Kasun Rajitha (1/27) and Isuru Udana (1/9) got one wicket each.
In reply, Sri Lanka lost their both openers in the very first over of the innings (6/2; Kusal Perera 3 and Kusal Mendis 1). However, the next two batsmen Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva helped the team to get out from that situation with a 53-run partnership for the third wicket.
But after Dhananjaya de Silva’s (31) dismissal, Sri Lankan batting suffered a collapse. However, Chandimal held one side of the wicket and secured the game for the hosts with the unbeaten 36-run innings. Sri Lanka chased down the target in 16 overs after losing seven wickets (99/7) as they won the match by three wickets with 24 balls to spare. Dhananjaya de Silva won the Player of the Match award for his important all-round performances.
Brief Scores: South Africa – 98 in 16.4 overs (Quinton de Kock 20, Reeza Hendricks 19; Lakshan Sandakan 3/19)
Sri Lanka – 99/7 in 16 overs (Dinesh Chandimal 36*, Dhananjaya de Silva 31; Junior Dala 2/22)
Result – Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets
Important stats highlights of the match:
- South Africa was bundled out for just 98 runs. It is their lowest completed T20I total. Their previous lowest completed T20I total was 100 (12.2) against Pakistan at Centurion on March 3, 2013.
- South African opener and wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock scored the highest runs in that innings which was just 20 runs. It is South Africa’s lowest ‘highest innings score by a batsman in a T20I match’. The previous one was just 25 by Faf du Plessis against England at Cape Town on February 19, 2016.
- Sri Lankan left-arm chinaman Lakshan Sandakan had the bowling figure of 4-1-19-3. It was the first time in T20I history when a Sri Lankan bowled a maiden over against South Africa.
- South African captain JP Duminy scored just 3 runs. It is the lowest runs scored by any South African T20I captain against Sri Lanka. The previous lowest record was just 6 runs that was scored by Farhaan Behardien at Cape Town on January 25, 2017.
- Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews scored a duck in this match. It was the first ever T20I duck by a Sri Lankan captain against South Africa.
