Theekshana,Hasaranga,spin and pace of Lahiru give Sri Lanka a seven-wicket comprehensive win – By Sunil Thenabadu

Maheesh Theekshana struck with his first ball of the tournament

Photo courtesy: CRICINFO

Brief scores….

Sri Lanka 100 for 3 (Rajapaksa 42*, Fernando 30*) beat Namibia 96 (Craig Williams 29, Theekshana 3-25, Kumara 2-9) by seven wickets

Sri Lanka commenced the first phase of the ICC T 20 , 2021 tournament with a comprehensive seven wickets win with a healthy run rate having notched up 100 for loss of only three wickets in 13.3 overs in reply to Associate Member Namibia’s paltry total of 96 runs made in 19.3 overs.Of course it has to be said that side Namibia are not just push overs as they have had a wonderful past record in T 20’s ,the side includes some talented experienced lot

Dasun Shanaka having won the flip had no hesitation in inviting Namibia to bat.The opening pair did negotiate the opening bowlers Chameera and Lahiru hurling at a relatively fast speed.Only the first four batsmen got to double figures. The side succumbed to the spin of Maheesh Theekshana off spin googly and the carrom ball who was termed as an’ anam manam’ bowler Russel Arnold with his mystery balls made life miserable for the Namibian batsmen.World’s second ranked bowler Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva also made the batsmen to guess with his off spin and googly bowling.The two shared five wickets while pacie Lahiru Kumara captured two wickets.Maheesh Theekshana 3/25, Hasaranga 2/24 in their quota of four overs while Lahiru Kumara has figures of 2/9 in 3.3 overs.

Sri Lanka in reply had a brief impediment at the beginning losing Kusalm Janith for 11 ( two fours) Pathum Nissanka for 5 ( b) and Dinesh Chamdimal also for 5( 6).But was in danger Avishka Fernando batting at his new position at No 4 and Bhanuka Rajapaksa in a partnership of 74 runs were together at the winning post made in 13.3 overs,Bhanuka scoring the winning run hoisting a massive six over the square leg region.Bhanuka made 42* in 27balls with 2 sixes and 4 four fours while Avishka Fernando made 30* in 28 balls with 2 sixes. With this unbroken partnership Sri Lanka romped home easy winners by 7 wickets in 13,3 overs with 39 balls to spare Maheesh Theekshana was named the “Player of the Match”