Sri Lanka faced a crushing defeat in their opening match of the Sri Lanka–Pakistan–Zimbabwe T20 Tri-Series held yesterday, losing to Zimbabwe by a massive 67 runs.
Winning the toss, Sri Lanka’s captain Dasun Shanaka elected to bowl first. Batting first, Zimbabwe posted 162 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their 20 overs.
For Zimbabwe, opener Brian Bennett top-scored with 49 runs while skipper Sikandar Raza contributed a valuable 47.
From the Sri Lankan bowling attack, Wanindu Hasaranga claimed 3 wickets, while Eshan Malinga picked up 2.
Sri Lanka’s reply turned disastrous as the batting lineup collapsed completely, bundled out for just 95 runs.
Dasun Shanaka was the top scorer for Sri Lanka with 34 runs. No other batsman managed to cross even 15 runs.
For Zimbabwe, Brad Evans took 3 wickets, while Richard Ngarava claimed 2.
With this heavy defeat, Sri Lanka went down by 67 runs in their first match of the tri-series. Notably, this is the second time this year that Sri Lanka have been dismissed for under 100 runs against Zimbabwe.
Sikandar Raza was named Player of the Match.
