Undefeatable Lions: Sri Lanka Roars as the Only Unbeaten Side in the Qualifying Stage
Pathum Nissanka has been in good recent form (Source: Twitter)
Sri Lanka with a dominant win over West Indies by 8 wickets, finished the Super Six stage unbeaten. On Match 9 against West Indies, Sri Lanka opted to field after winning the toss and their bowlers proved their Captain’s decision accurate. Maheesh Theekshana was Sri Lanks’s conquering hero with the ball, he grabbed four wickets while giving away just 34 runs in his total of ten overs, and helped constrain West Indies and bowled them out for just 243.
On the batting front, Pathum Nissanka scored a magnificent century, he scored 104 runs with the help of fourteen fours, whereas their other opener Dimuth Karunaratne, also secured 83 runs, they constructed a match-winning partnership of 190 runs, and made the score look like a piece of cake for them.
Kusal Mendis (34) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (17) did the finishing work for them and helped Sri Lanka chase down the score without any further halt. This victory assured Sri Lanka to remain undefeated throughout the whole tournament, and they will be facing one final challenge of Netherlands on July 9, at Harare Sports Club, Harare.
Sri Lanka's Spinners Cast a Spell of Brilliance
Wickets, Strike Rate and Balls/boundary analysis
One of the primary reasons for the success and their unbeaten run in the Qualifiers were their spin-duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, not only they picked crucial wickets for them but also their average remained the best among the other bowlers.
Among the top-five spinners of the Qualifiers, Sri Lankan spinners picked the most wickets, Wanindu Hasaranga grabbed 20 wickets, the highest among all and with a terrific strike-rate of 15.50 and he gave away a boundary of every 9.67 balls, which was a bit on the higher side in comparison to the other spinners.
On the other hand, Maheesh Theekshana took 17 wickets with a strike-rate of 20.24, third best amongst the other spinners. He had the best balls per boundary ratio in the list, giving a boundary of every 19.11 balls. Therefore, Sri Lankan spinners played a huge part in making them the undefeated side in the tournament.
The other reason for their triumph in the Qualifiers was their opening combination of Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne. They had few brilliant partnerships throughout the tournament, which certainly eased the task for the further batters.
Pathum Nissanka scored the second-highest runs in the tournament, scoring 394 runs with a staggering average of 78.80, first in the list was Sean Williams, who scored 600 runs.
Dimuth Karunaratne also had an impressive tournament with the bat, he scored 369 runs with an average of 61.50 and he is at the third-position at the moment, with Sri Lanka still have final to play, their both the openers will be keen to perform well and finish the tournament on a positive note.
Conclusion
It has been almost a month, and we have seen some of the finest performances in the tournament. The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 comes to a close on Sunday, as Sri Lanka and the Netherlands will play the finals to become crowned champions.
Sri Lanka were comfortable winners when the two sides met in the Super Six just over a week ago, but Netherlands are looking charged-up after their thrilling victory over Scotland and Sri Lanka should be careful against them.
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