The dust has settled on the Sri Lanka vs Netherlands match, and while Sri Lanka won by a comfortable 83 runs, their T20 World Cup journey is over.
Pitch And Toss Factor
The Gros Islet surface offers some assistance to pacers with the new ball and has a bit more bounce than usual. The St Lucian pitch has been one of the better tracks for batting, teams batting first score over 180 to gain an advantage over the chasing side.
Netherlands winning the toss elected to field first to use the early pace.
Sri Lanka’s Batting Blitz
Sri Lanka put up a strong batting performance against the Netherlands by scoring 201/6 in their 20 overs. Kusal Mendis was impressive with 46 runs off 29 balls along with Charith Asalanka scoring 46 off just 21 balls. Dhananjaya de Silva also contributed with 34 runs. Angelo Mathews and Wanindu Hasaranga provided a solid finish with an unbeaten 30 off 15 balls and an explosive 20 not out from 6 balls.
Netherlands Bowlers Under Siege
The Netherlands bowlers faced a tough time against Sri Lanka with only Logan van Beek standing out by taking 2 wickets for 45 runs. Vivian Kingma and Aryan Dutt each claimed a wicket giving away 23 runs with Paul van Meekeren and Tim Pringle grabbing a wicket each. But the overall high economy rates reflected the challenge they faced from the Sri Lankan batsmen.
Netherlands Falter in Chase
In a disappointing batting display the Netherlands managed only 118 runs in response to Sri Lanka’s 202. Despite a promising start from Michael Levitt and captain Scott Edwards the rest of the batting lineup struggled. Max O’Dowd contributed 11 off 8 balls while Sybrand Engelbrecht added 11 off 9. The Dutch batting order failed to build partnerships.
Sri Lanka’s Bowlers Dominate Netherlands
Sri Lanka bowlers showcased a powerful performance against the Netherlands by skittling them out for 118 runs. Nuwan Thushara led the attack with 3 wickets with Matheesha Pathirana taking 2 wickets for just 12 runs. Wanindu Hasaranga also contributed by claiming 2 wickets with Maheesh Theekshana and Dasun Shanaka chipping in with a wicket each ensuring a comprehensive bowling display that dismantled the Dutch batting lineup.
What’s Ahead?
For Sri Lanka the Super 8 dream ended quite earlier last week, for Netherlands with this loss the Super 8 dreams ended.