T20 Tri-series: Bowlers help Zimbabwe to biggest-ever win over full ICC member

Rawalpindi: Left-arm pacer Brad Evans produced a brilliant spell of 4-0-9-3 while skipper Sikandar Raza shone with an all-round effort to help destroy Sri Lanka’s batting as Zimbabwe bowled out Sri Lanka for 95 and defended their total of 162/8 for a 67-run victory in the T20 Tri-series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium here on Thursday night.

This is Zimbabwe’s biggest-ever victory over a full-fledged member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in T20 format. With this win, Zimbabwe has taken the top spot in the Tri-series table on net run-rate with two points (from two matches), the same as Pakistan from one match. This was Sri Lanka’s first match in the event.

Led by Evans and Richard Ngarava (2-15), the Zimbabwe bowlers came up with a devastating performance as all six of them figured among wickets, turning what initially looked like an easy target into a nightmare for Sri Lanka.

Electing to field first, Sri Lanka had restricted Zimbabwe to 162/8 in 20 overs, a modest total built on a 42-ball 49 by Brian Bennett (4x5, 6x1) and a 32-ball 47 by skipper Sikandr Raza (4x3,6x2).

Evans grabbed the key wicket of Rajapaksa, cleaning him up with a straight one as the batter tried to hit out of trouble, Eshan Malinga, and Maheesh Theekshana. Ngarava took 2-15 while Sikandar Raza (1-23), Ryan Buri (1-8), Graeme Cremer (1-17), and Tinotenda Maposa (1-17) were the other wicket-takers for Zimbabwe in a memorable victory.

Brief scores: Zimbabwe 162/8 in 20 overs (Brian Bennett 49, Sikandar Raza 47; Wanindu Hasaranga 3-32, Eshan Malinga 2-27) beat Sri Lanka 95 all out in 20 overs (Dasun Shanaka 34; Brad Evans 3-9, Richard Ngarava 2-15, Sikandar Raza 1-23) by 67 runs. IANS

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