Kusal Perera Reflects On His Match-Winning Knock Against New Zealand
Kusal Perera celebrated his comeback with a 50 [Image: Twitter]
Sri Lankan batter Kusal Perera believes that his side's batting unit needs to bat with the same template as they did in the 1st T20I against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday.
Sri Lanka's main Achilles heel in limited-overs cricket has been the inability of their batting unit to bat with sustained momentum throughout their innings.
On Sunday, the Lankans did exactly that as the likes of Perera (53 off 45), Mendis (25 off 9), Dhananjaya de Silva (15 off 10), Charith Asalanka (67 off 41) unleashed a sustained assault on the BlackCaps bowlers to post a match-winning 196/5 in 20 overs.
Here's what Kusal Perera said
"It's hard to play a T20 without momentum, and to win in T20 cricket you need a batter to provide that momentum,
"I went ahead with a positive mindset, I wasn't thinking about how long I had been out. Likewise, all the other batters also went out with a positive mindset, and that's how we managed to capitalise on the conditions."
Sri Lanka claim their maiden win on the tour in a thrilling Super Over finish
Chasing 197, New Zealand couldn't have got off to a worst possible start as they lost both their openers- Chad Bowes & Tim Seifert- with virtually nothing on the board.
However, steady contributions from Tom Latham (27 off 16), Mark Chapman (33 off 23), James Neesham (19 off 10), Rachin Ravindra (26 off 13), and a well-paced 44-ball 66 from Daryll Mitchell ensured that the home side was able to tie the score at the end of their 20 overs.
New Zealand could only manage 8 runs in the Super Over, which the Lankans gunned it down in just 3 deliveries.
 "Yash Mittal")
