West Indies VS Sri Lanka T20 Internationals Series
1st Match Played at Collidge on 4 March 2021
Sri Lanka 131/9 in 20 Overs (Pathum Nishanka 39, Nirosha Dickwella 33, Obed McCoy 2/25, Fabian Allen 1 /4, Jason Holder 1/19, Dyan Bravo 1/26, Kevin Sinclair 1/26, Fiedel Edwards 1/26)
West Indies 134/6 in 13.1 Over (Keiron Pollard 38, Jason Holder 29*, Elvin Lewis 28, Lendl Simmons 26, PWH de Silva 3/12. Akila Dhananjaya 4/ 62)
West Indies won by 4 wickets
Player of The Match: Keiron Pollard.
Six sixes in an over, a hat trick and West Indies won after high drama.
Star Studded West Indies managed piping spirited Sri Lanka to the post in a high drama T20 International. Put into bat Sri Lanka managed scoring a well below par 131/9 on the easy paced wicket at small Coolidge ground.
At break all thought it was going to be a cakewalk for West Indies considering so many power hitters in the team. West Indies was off to a flier rushing to 52 by the 3.2 overs. Suddenly wickets started crumbling like cookies. Two brilliant leg spinners Akila Dhananjaya and Hasaranga De Silva almost turned the match upside down taking 3 wickets each. Akila took hat trick. But consciously in his very next over Pollard struck 6 sixes. Finally, West Indies won the match by 4 wickets scoring 134/6 with 6.5 overs to spare. In the end it was a comprehensive win. Keiron Pollard striking 6 sixes in one over became the second player after Yuvuraj Singh scoring 6 sixes in an over. Pollard is only third batsman over all in international cricket after Hershel Gibbs and Yuvaraj. Akila despite being blasted for 6 sixes also should be credited for taking a rare hat trick. Had Srilanka scored another 30 runs it could be a different match? Off course West Indies might have batted differently. West Indies went ahead 1-0 in the series.
Despite having most of T20 big hitting specialist ruling T20 Franchise across the cricket world T20 World Champion West Indies is languishing at the bottom of the ICC Ranking. Top-notch players were not available for national duty. With eyes in the T20 world cup 2021 West Indies brought back all of them for this series. Two veterans Universal Boss Christopher Henry Gayle and Speed Merchant Fiedel Edwards were also included. On the other hand some leading Srilankan missed out for lack of fitness. Captain lost his passport. Looking at the team composition many observed that it would a miss match. But defending a small score Sri Lanka bowling brilliantly competed well.
Sri Lanka was put to bat by Pollard. A very exciting youngster Sinclair on his debut got his first wicket having Gunatilaka caught by his captain Pollard. 21 years old Sinclair had dream debut where he shared the dressing room with one of his childhood hero Gayle. All West Indies bowlers stuck to their task. Excepting Nishanka (39) and Dickwalla (33) none could bat with patience and competence. Sri Lanka could put up only 131/9 in their allotted overs. Edwards looked good, Obed McCoy bowled very fast, Sinclair looked good on debut, Holder and Bravo controlled.
At innings break all thought West Indies would cruise given the firepower they possess. Elvin Lewis and Lendl Simmons were off to flier. Lewis struck 3 sixes and 2 fours in his 28 and Simmons also scored 3fours and 2 sixes in his 26. Great Gayle got a first ball duck and so did Pooran. Suddenly West Indies was reduced from 52/0 to 52/3 with Akila taking a hat trick. In came captain Pollard. Even though Simmons left soon Pollard entered history scoring 6 sixes of Akila’s third over. But another leg spinner Hasarnaga taking Pollard and Allen off successive deliveries almost turned the tide. It could be an exciting finish if holder was not dropped in the deep. But senses prevailed. Holder and Barvo took the team across without further drama. West Indies won by 4 wickets.
West Indies won it easy eventually. But they have a few areas to ponder. T20 is not only hitting sixes and fours. They should build the innings as well. However, they bowled and fielded well. The new blend of young and old would take a while to unite. Sri Lanka however had some positives in the match. They have seen how the free-flowing West Indies blasters can be tamed with intelligent bowling. They have to bat much better to give their bowlers enough to defend.
BDST: 1156 HRS, MAR 04, 2021
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