A STUNNING blitz from Kamindu Mendis denied Zimbabwe a famous win in the opening T20I in Harare on Wednesday (September 3). Sri Lanka, at one stage, were cruising in the run chase when their openers put on 96 but the hosts fought back in commendable fashion picking up four wickets in the space of 19 balls.

That brought the equation down to 59 from the final five overs, which is when Mendis took charge and hammered four sixes across the next three overs to help his side cross the finish line.
At one stage, it appeared like Sri Lanka were going to chase down 176 with relative ease. Pathum Nissanka, who scored almost 200 runs in the two ODIs preceding the T20Is, was at it again when he took on Blessing Muzarabani very early for three fours in an over.

A six each in the next two overs followed from the opener as Sri Lanka knocked off 65 in the powerplay. The carnage continued despite Kusal Mendis not looking at his fluent best as Nissanka brought up another half-century. At 96/0 after 10 overs, the result appeared to be a foregone conclusion.

However, Nissanka miscued a short delivery to depart for 55 and that triggered a mini collapse. Richard Ngarava then removed Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis in the space of three deliveries before Sikandar Raza got rid of the big fish Charith Asalanka to stun the visitors.

Mendis did survive a scare in the following over when he mistimed a pull but Brad Evans couldn’t complete the catch despite the dive. Zimbabwe continued to peg Sri Lanka back though with Muzarabani getting into the act this time with the wicket of Nuwanidu Fernando and Evans making amends by sending Dasun Shanaka back.
With the equation coming down to 34 off 18, Sri Lanka were banking heavily on Mendis to lift them especially with just four wickets remaining in the bag. The allrounder didn’t disappoint as he took Tinotenda Maposa in a game-changing 18th over in which he cleared the ropes twice and hit a boundary. The bowler ended up conceding 26 runs in that over and despite Ngarava’s desperate efforts in the penultimate over, Sri Lanka romped home with five balls to spare.

Earlier in the day, the game got off to an eventful start when Nuwan Thushara found the outside edge off the first two deliveries, only for the batter to fetch boundaries on both occasions. Brian Bennett grew in confidence though as the powerplay progressed and kept finding the boundary to make sure Zimbabwe were scoring at almost ten an over. He found an able partner in Raza to lay an excellent platform before Dushan Hemantha broke the stand.

The half-centurion continued to score at a brisk pace and was involved in another fruitful stand. At 157/3 after 18 overs, Zimbabwe would have ideally wanted to push towards a score in excess of 180. But Dushmantha Chameera delivered an excellent penultimate over that saw him get rid of Bennett and Ryan Burl, which derailed Zimbabwe’s innings right at the death. It meant they could finish with only 175 on board, a competitive total but just not enough to get the job done. (Cricbuzz)