Zimbabwe's perfect T20 World Cup performance continued today as well, as they chased down 179 runs to beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in their final group stage game of the T20 World Cup. With this win, they became the only team from Group B to be unbeaten and also topped the points table with seven points after four matches. Brian Bennett, who is yet to be dismissed in the tournament, and captain Sikandar Raza were the heroes in the chase as Zimbabwe entered the Super 8 round of the tournament with a massive spring in their strides.
Nissanka's superb form continues but Zimbabwe come out on top
Earlier, after opting to bat first, Sri Lanka posted 178 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs. Pathum Nissanka continued from where he left off against Australia and smashed 62 runs off 41 balls to propel his team's score. Pavan Rathnayake also played superbly to score 44 runs off 25 balls, but Sri Lanka didn't get the required push in the second half of the innings.
Even though they scored 36 runs in the last six overs, they slowed down significantly from 13-17 overs, scoring only 42 runs in five overs. At 100/1 after 12 overs, the hosts were looking good to post a total closer to 200 runs but they could eventually reach only 178 runs. Graeme Cremer and Brad Evans were the main reasons why Sri Lanka slowed down as they shared four wickets between them equally.
Ryan Burl also played his role, conceding 16 runs in two overs while dismissing Kusal Mendis. 178 runs, at the halfway mark, seemed to be a par score, but Zimbabwe aced the chase perfectly with their captain Sikandar Raza batting superbly at the death and opener Brian Bennett making sure to anchor the innings. Things went down the wire in the end as they lost two wickets including that of their captain and needed eight runs in the final over.
However, Tony Munyonga kept his cool to smash a six off the first delivery from Maheesh Theekshana and fittingly, Benett, who is yet to be dismissed in this World Cup, hit the winning runs to keep his side unbeaten in the group stage.
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