WI vs SL | 2nd T20I: All-round Hasaranga, disciplined bowlers set up series decider

Sri Lanka bounced back in the second T20 against West Indies with all their might and levelled the three-match series at the Coolidge.

Having set a challenging target of 161 runs, the Lankan bowlers were at the top of their game and did not allow any batsman of the power-packed batting line up to come at the top of them, and defended the score by a big margin of 63 runs. 

Wanindu Hasaranga was adjudged the Player of the Match for his all-round display where he picked up three big wickets and provided flourish to Sri Lanka’s batting efforts down the order.

Skipper Angelo Mathews relied on the spin and variations of Akila Dananjaya along with the pace of Dushmantha Chameera and the duo bowled tight lines to send a sense of desperation in the hosts’ camp. Dananjaya was all over him Lendl Simmons and the right-hander could not find a way to get away with the required run rate. 

The effect of quiet overs was telling and Lewis decided to slog his and Windies’s out of the early struggle, but Dananjya was too succinct with his variations and beat him with the one that kept on coming into him with the arm.

The universe boss arrived at number three and he literally started bossings around with a six and a boundary of Chameera to bring Windies on track to chase down the target. Dananjaya tried to choke them once again from the other end, but Thisara Perera paid for his discipline with both Gayle and Simmons setting themselves up to send him over the boundary lines repetitively. 

Simmons and Gayle plundered the all-rounder for 20 runs with three foursa and one six to end the first powerplay, and the partnership started looking ominous for the tourists. S

Simmons started timing the ball nicely, but Hasarranga arrived at the bowling crease just after the end of the powerplay. He did not start well, but in a first sign that the night was to be his, Hassaranga picked up the big wicket of Chris Gayle with a real drag on delivery. Sri Lanka were back in the game, but only just with another danger man Nicholas Pooran out to bat.

Hassaranga was not finished in that over and accounted for Simmons with a googly to pegg Windies significantly back in the game.

Windies promoted Jason Holder over skipper Kieron Pollard, but the tall all-rounder could be as good as only for a six but another spinner Danushka Gunathilaka accounted for him to leave the men in marron in real tatters.

Fresh from belligerent innings where he hit six sixes in an over, Pollard was in the mood to use his finishing skills and asked Bravo to bat ahead of him.

If the previous setbacks were due to spinners and their variations, natural variations off the pitch of Chameera were too good for Pooran and Bravo and Windies were under real pressure just like in the last game and needed Pollard to come good once again if they were to win the game.

Pollard was on the money from the word go and smashed his only third ball and thumped Hasaranga’s googly over the mid-wicket boundary to send a signal to the Sri Lanka camp. Fabian Allen too started to get the feel of the game with a six off Dananjaya to resurrect Windies.

Hasaranga came back strongly to send Allen back to the pavilion while also not allowing batsmen to run away with a flurry of boundaries.

The job was getting tougher for the hosts, but they had hope as long as Pollard was there and Lakshan Sandakan shattered the last piece of respite Windies were banking on. He dragged Pollard towards the off side and in the desperation of surging required run rate, Windies skipper holed out at the deep cover to be the final nail in the coffin.

However, Obed McCoy tried the best he could do and rattled Perera in his second over as well. He smashed him all corners to take 23 runs off him, but the target was too far away from his reach and finally, West Indies had to squander the 1-0 lead in the series.

Earlier in the evening, Sri Lanka’s skipper Angelo Mathews won the toss and elected to put the runs on the board. The opening pair of Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella was separated from the last game, and Pathum Nissanka was rewarded a promotion for his batting in the first game of the series.

Gunathilaka and Nissanka started not so belligerent, but classical shots paid off for them as Fidel Edwards started with fuller balls in search of some swing in the air. Two boundaries in the very first over were good enough to set up the batting for the tourists, and they did not take their foot off from the pedal.

Pollard tried to replicate a marvellous catch like in the last game just around the end of the powerplay, but it was not to be his day in the field and Gunathilaka was handed a reprieve and the left-hander reached a fifty from 35 balls to give a near-perfect platform to the batsmen batting down the order.

Just when they were looking to take the game completely away from the West Indies, the old and wily Dwayne Bravo came into the attack to send both of them back to the pavilion. He was not finished and came back to dismiss Dinesh Chandimal to push Sri Lanka’s advantage into disarray.

Angelo Mathews and Ashen Bandara were tasked with the resurrection of Sri Lanka’s batting, but neither of them could make it big and departed only after stabilising the innings, before Hasaranga came into the scene and bludgeoned the bowlers around to take Lanka past 150 run-mark.

The three-match T20 series between the sides has now been levelled with this Sri Lanka win and the decider of the series will be played at the same venue on March 08.