In a rain-reduced 20-over game, Sri Lanka went down tamely to South Africa as the weather gods were not kind to them. Batting first turned out to a disadvantage for them thanks to the lengthy delay as South Africa kept them under check and then chased down the total in style without breaking any sweat. While the weather did not help Sri Lanka, one might say and the toss decision was a surprise there were areas where Sri Lanka lagged and lost out last night. We will try and enlist them for you.
Vishmi Gunaratne getting injured at the wrong time broke the flow of the batting
Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Vishmi Gunaratne looked good from the outset and drove the innings forward. She hit two exquisite boundaries as her partner Chamari took her time at the other end. It looked as if Sri Lanka were off to a decent start. But just when she was on 12, she was hit on the knee by a innocuous throw while trying to complete the single. She was hit on the right knee flush and went down on the ground in severe agony.
She could not get up from her place and the stretcher came out to take her off which was a sorry sight. Later, she came back out in the middle after getting treatment when play resumed after a long delay but it was too late. This retired hurt meant a new batter in Hasini Perera had to come in and she fell for 4 very cheaply. The rhythm of the Sri Lankan batting was affected as a whole after that. Soon, Chamari fell as well for 11 but she took 25 balls as run scoring after Gunaratne went was a problem for the Lankans.
It is sometimes one incident when the player in form looked good gets injured and that affects the whole team. It affected Sri Lanka as they crawled their way to 46/2 in 12 overs. Yes, the rain came in and made it impossible for them, but it seemed they did not have a plan to combat South Africa’s bowling apart from Gunaratne. Credit to South Africa and their opening bowlers for keeping things tight and getting the game in their favour in the end.
Sri Lanka’s batting fails to stand up thanks to the rain situation
Sri Lanka came into bat and for obvious reasons approached the game as a 50-over game and started cautiously. The skies were grey and with Vishmi retiring hurt early, it compounded problems by breaking the rhythm of the innings. They lost Perera and Chamari inside the powerplay of 10 overs apart from Vishmi retired hurt. They got to 46/2 in 12 overs when rain became heavier and stayed there interrupting play for 3-4 hours.
When rain finally relented and the groundsmen did a stellar job to clear the covers, the umpires had no choice but to reduce the game to minimum 20 overs a side as we were close to cut-off time for match being abandoned again. But it compounded Sri Lanka’s problems as suddenly with 46/2 on the board they had only 8 overs to bat. The co-hosts tried their best and had to up the ante. They did so, but also lost wickets as well. They had no choice and nobody could play themselves in and score runs as that was how the situation played out.
It was left to Vishmi Gunaratne to come back and score the runs and score the runs she did as she was the last woman out off the final ball of the innings for 34 off 33 balls. No other batter scored above 20 apart from her and that was a sorry state of affairs for Sri Lanka. Once couldn’t blame them because such was the situation. But a better application was required from the Lankan batters to at least put more runs on the board. But they had to suddenly switch gears and that resulted in them losing wickets in clusters and not having the finish they would have wanted.
Inability to take a single wicket while defending 121 in 20 overs exposes Sri Lanka
South Africa’s target was DLS adjusted and went up to 121 in 20 overs. Sri Lanka as we know had scored 105/7 in 20 overs. Yes, South Africa had the advantage of knowing the score and batting for 20 overs and so, they approached it that way. Sri Lanka would have hoped to take early wickets to make a match out of it. But their inability to take wickets and not separate the opening pair shocked everyone.
Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits came out all guns blazing as no bowler was spared. They respected the initial overs before going on a roll. It seemed Sri Lanka lacked plans bowling to them. Yes, it was a wet ball and all, but still they could have and should have made a match out of this. No one was spared and even their main wicket-taker Inoka Ranaweera was taken to the cleaners. Once that happened, Sri Lanka had no one to fall back on and went down tamely as the duo chased down the score inside 15 overs winning with 31 balls to spare.
Looking ahead as Sri Lanka are out of reckoning, they will want to get these areas right and come back stronger to end the campaign on a high. It’s been a frustrating campaign with weather ruining their chances at their home ground. But they ought to have better plans against the South African batters and they didn’t unfortunately.
What Lies Ahead
We stay on in Colombo for today’s clash as well and it is a crucial clash between New Zealand and Pakistan with two points up for grabs and rain on the horizon. Let’s see who takes the two points from this fixture if the rain allows it to happen. All to play for as the race to semi-finals heats up.
Also Read: ICC Women’s ODI WC 2025: Rain Threat Looms Large Over South Africa & Sri Lanka Contest