How Sri Lanka dropped the ball vs New Zealand, literally!

They say catches win matches. So dropping them could set you back as well. In some cases, by quite a long way. With New Zealand under the hammer at 29/3, Glenn Phillips lofted Hasaranga straight to Nissanaka a long-off. It was a regulation catch with Nissanaka not having to move much, but he dropped it, despite two attempts. Phllips was just on 12 then and the wicket would have been the nail in the coffin for New Zealand, who had already lost most of their top order.

But, that wasn’t to be and Phillips went on to score a sensational century to lift New Zealand to a competitive total of 167. Sri Lanka started the game in spectacular fashion, each of their bowling changes producing key wickets, reducing the kiwis to a paltry 25/3 at the end of the powerplay – the lowest in this year’s T20 World Cup. Theekshana, Dhanjaya and Rajitha were all on song, taking the key wickets of Allen, Conway and Williamson in just four overs for 15 runs.

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With the ball firmly in Sri Lanka’s court in a must-win game, what ensued after that was a poor reflection of how much they wanted to win. The fielding at the outfield was dreadful with Sri Lankans fumbling all over the park. The fielding, or the lack of it, broke the shackles off New Zealand, with Glenn Phillips punishing every ball, on his juggernaut to a very memorable century. Despite the poor start to the game, although the Kiwis made a strong comeback thanks to Phillips’ gritty innings, Sri Lanka also did them one too many favours, allowing them to get more and more confident as the game progressed.

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If things were bad enough for Sri Lanka, having to chase 168, the New Zealand quickies put them to the sword right from ball one. Nissanaka, was not able to make any amends for his costly drop, with Southee sending him packing without a run scored, ending his horror night. Boult ripped through the rest of the top order with Mendis, Dhanjaya and Asalanka falling without troubling the scorers much. The powerplay ended with Sri Lanka at 24/4, becoming the team to score the lowest in the powerplay at this T20 World Cup.

New Zealand did not return the Lankans the favour in the field, with some excellent work as usual. With the rain playing spoilsport to many matches, it was all the more imperative for Sri Lanka to ensure they did not let the game slip away. But while they were quite good with the ball when bowling, they did let it and with that the game, slip away on the field.