Debutant Wellalage, Asalanka stun West Indies as Sri Lanka draw level
Sri Lanka’s spinners picked up nine wickets as West Indies bundled out for 89 in chase of 163
Sri Lanka 162 for 5 (Nissanka 54, Kusal Mendis 26, Shepherd 2-23) beat West Indies 89 (Powell 20, Wellalage 3-9, Asalanka 2-6, Theekshana 2-7) by 73 runs
Sri Lanka’s spinners ripped through the West Indies batters on a turning Dambulla surface to level the series at one apiece, as they won the second ODI by 73 runs.
Debutant Dunith Wellalage – belatedly making his T20I bow – was the pick of the bowlers, ending with figures of 3 for 9, while Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga and Charith Asalanka grabbed two each. Matheesha Pathirana was the sole seamer to pick up a wicket in the innings.
With the bat, Pathum Nissanka’s 54 off 49 had helped set the platform as Sri Lanka did well to keep a steady run rate throughout their innings, having won the toss and elected to bat first. There were also runs for Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera and Kamindu Mendis, but this game was all about Sri Lanka’s spinners who showed total dominance in the West Indian chase.
Sri Lanka spinners flex their skills
Hasaranga, Sri Lanka’s premier spinner, bowled his first delivery of the game in the 11th over of the chase. And the fact that he picked up a wicket with that delivery was perhaps the least remarkable aspect about it.
What was more astounding was that he was the sixth bowler used by Sri Lanka, and West Indies had still managed to collapse to 39 for 6. But who needs Hasaranga when you have the world-renowned offspin stylings of, um, Charith Asalanka. Yes, with two left-hand batters at the crease, the Sri Lanka captain opted to introduce himself and a right-arm variant of Kamindu Mendis ahead of Hasaranga.
And it worked too. Asalanka’s two overs brought two wickets for just six runs – and those weren’t even the best figures at that stage of the game. No, that honour belonged to Wellalage – though he is by no means new to the international stage – who had grabbed three for himself.
In the lead-up to the game, Asalanka had stated how he had expected more for the spinners in the first T20I, and his wish was granted and then some in the second. Gudakesh Motie turning the ball square in the first innings would have set off West Indies’ alarm bells, but not even that could have prepared them for a 100kph sharp-turning offbreak from Theekshana.
WI need to go back to drawing board
The first T20I had seen the West Indies batters execute their plans to perfection and put Sri Lanka’s bowlers to the sword. Stepping out, moving around in the crease, using the depth, everything came off, with the last over-finish in reality nowhere close as it looked.
Sri Lanka, though, took their learnings and came back stronger – mainly in that they were prepared for what this surface was set to offer, replacing pace-bowling allrounder Chamindu Wickramasinghe with Wellalage.
West Indies, however, seemed to have missed the memo, and had only two spinners in their line-up. And those two – Motie and Roston Chase – did their part, going for just 37 off their collective eight overs. It will not be a surprise if Fabian Allen gets a go in the final game.
West Indies’ batters then seemed at a loss on how to deal with Sri Lanka’s array of spin threats, expertly utilising the conditions along with clever variations in pace, line and length. West Indies will need to come up with plans soon if they are to pose a threat in Thursday’s decider.
Nissanka shines in hindsight
On the face of it, Nissanka’s innings seemed to be more detrimental than anything else – and by the standards of modern T20 cricket, it was not too difficult to understand why. This was an innings that saw 42 runs come in boundaries (9 fours and a six) but also included 27 dot balls.
Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis added 77 for the first wicket, Sri Lanka vs West Indies, 2nd T20I, Dambulla, October 15, 2024
Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis added 77 for the first wicket•Associated Press
In fact, it was a microcosm of Sri Lanka’s innings as a whole; they played out 58 dots. It meant that in five of the first ten overs less than five runs were scored, and roughly half of their powerplay total of 52 was plundered in one Shamar Joseph over, where a combination of luck and belligerence saw Nissanka plunder 25 runs.
But if that over was meant to signal the start of Sri Lanka’s onslaught, Nissanka and Co seemed to have other ideas. That over ensured that the first three overs, in which Sri Lanka scrounged together eight runs, were quickly in the rearview; by the end of the powerplay Sri Lanka’s run rate was at a healthy 8.66 – but that was the highest it would reach at any point across their innings.
The rest of Nissanka’s time at the crease was spent punctuating periods of dot deliveries and the odd single with an odd boundary. But the time he spent at the crease ensured he was able to do this consistently – and with it keep Sri Lanka’s scoring rate ticking above seven an over.
Anchors are largely considered obsolete in T20s, but on a wicket such as this Nissanka – who was named Player of the Match – proved to be invaluable (even if it did not seem so at the time), as he allowed the likes of Perera to take early risks. And then with wickets in hand for the death overs, the middle and lower order hit out freely. As a result, Sri Lanka struck 85 runs in the last ten overs – just four short of West Indies’ final total.
Sri Lanka (20 ovs maximum)
Batting R B M 4s 6s SR
Pathum Nissanka
b AS Joseph
54 49 69 9 1 110.20
Kusal Mendis †
c Powell b Springer
26 25 44 2 1 104.00
Kusal Perera
lbw b S Joseph
24 16 13 3 1 150.00
Kamindu Mendis
c Rutherford b Shepherd
19 14 28 1 1 135.71
Charith Asalanka (c)
b Shepherd
9 7 9 2 0 128.57
Bhanuka Rajapaksa
not out 5 7 11 0 0 71.42
Wanindu Hasaranga
not out 5 2 2 1 0 250.00
Extras (lb 10, w 10) 20
Total
20 Ov
(RR: 8.10)
162/5
Did not bat:
Dunith Wellalage,
Maheesh Theekshana,
Matheesha Pathirana,
Nuwan Thushara
Fall of wickets: 1-77 (Kusal Mendis, 9.6 ov), 2-111 (Kusal Perera, 13.4 ov), 3-127 (Pathum Nissanka, 15.5 ov), 4-141 (Charith Asalanka, 17.5 ov), 5-156 (Kamindu Mendis, 19.3 ov) •
DRS
Bowling O M R W ECON 0s 4s 6s WD NB
Alzarri Joseph
4 0 33
1
8.25 10 2 2 1 0
Shamar Joseph
3 0 35
1
11.66 7 7 0 2 0
Gudakesh Motie
4 0 13 0 3.25 17 0 1 0 0
Romario Shepherd
3 0 23
2
7.66 5 3 0 0 0
Shamar Springer
2 0 24
1
12.00 6 2 1 3 0
Roston Chase
4 0 24 0 6.00 13 4 0 0 0
West Indies (T: 163 runs from 20 ovs)
Batting R B M 4s 6s SR
Brandon King
st †BKG Mendis b Wellalage
5 8 14 1 0 62.50
Evin Lewis
lbw b Theekshana
7 13 19 1 0 53.84
Andre Fletcher †
c PHKD Mendis b Wellalage
4 11 19 0 0 36.36
Roston Chase
c PHKD Mendis b Wellalage
0 3 4 0 0 0.00
Sherfane Rutherford
b Asalanka
14 16 21 2 0 87.50
Gudakesh Motie
b Asalanka
4 7 9 0 0 57.14
Rovman Powell (c)
c †BKG Mendis b Pathirana
20 17 27 1 1 117.64
Romario Shepherd
lbw b Hasaranga
1 2 3 0 0 50.00
Shamar Springer
c Wellalage b Hasaranga
7 6 8 1 0 116.66
Alzarri Joseph
b Theekshana
16 10 16 1 1 160.00
Shamar Joseph
not out 5 4 4 1 0 125.00
Extras (lb 4, w 2) 6
Total
16.1 Ov
(RR: 5.50)
89
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Brandon King, 2.6 ov), 2-14 (Evin Lewis, 3.4 ov), 3-17 (Roston Chase, 4.4 ov), 4-22 (Andre Fletcher, 6.5 ov), 5-38 (Gudakesh Motie, 9.2 ov), 6-39 (Sherfane Rutherford, 9.5 ov), 7-40 (Romario Shepherd, 10.1 ov), 8-60 (Shamar Springer, 12.5 ov), 9-83 (Rovman Powell, 15.1 ov), 10-89 (Alzarri Joseph, 16.1 ov) •
DRS
Bowling O M R W ECON 0s 4s 6s WD NB
Maheesh Theekshana
3.1 0 7
2
2.21 12 0 0 0 0
Nuwan Thushara
1 0 9 0 9.00 3 2 0 0 0
Dunith Wellalage
4 0 9
3
2.25 16 0 0 1 0
Charith Asalanka
2 0 6
2
3.00 6 0 0 0 0
Kamindu Mendis
1 0 10 0 10.00 2 2 0 0 0
Wanindu Hasaranga
3 0 32
2
10.66 6 3 2 0 0
Matheesha Pathirana
2 0 12
1
6.00 4 1 0 1 0