Zimbabwe created history winning an ODI series against Sri-Lanka in their courtyard. They won the fifth and last match to take the series 3-2. It can be eyed as the lowest point for the Sri-Lankan team who had never lost to the bottom ranked teams at home.
Zimbabwe won the fifth match against Sri-Lanka by 3 wickets while chasing the target of 204 runs. Srilanka batting first could only manage 203 runs from their 50 overs in the series decider. It was a poor batting performance from them as none of their batsmen were able to score freely against the brilliant spin bowling display from Raza and cremer. They both took wickets and were very economical. They gave no loose balls to any of the Sri-Lankan batters. Gunathilaka and Gunaratne both made their individual fifties but they both batted with a poor strike rate of 60.47 and 72.84 respectively.
Zimbabwe however lost some quick wickets in the middle but determined Raza played a handy innings of 27* down the order to take his side comfortably past their target with 71 balls to spare. He was declared man of the match for his all-round effort also taking 3 wickets. Masakadza was named man of the series for his amazing run with bat making 258 runs in 5 matches.
 |
| Zimbabwe won an away series after eight years |
- Sri Lanka batsmen played very slow and were unable to even rotate strike for singles and doubles
Zimababwe started the chase with a best chance to win a series in Sri-Lanka. They grabbed the opportunity with open hands and both their openers gave an amazing start of 92 runs. Masakadza continued with his sublime form and made 73 runs at top of the order to make things easier for his team.
- Raza and Cremer were instrumental taking 3 and 2 wickets at an economy of 2.1 and 2.3 respectively from their 10 overs
 |
| Masakadza was in sublime form in the series making 258 runs in the series |
- Zimbabwe won the match by 3 wickets with 71 balls spare
- Masakadza was adjudged man of the series
- Raza bagged man of the match award for his allround performance (3 wickets and 27*)
This is the first time when Zimbabwe has won any series in Sri-Lanka. Zimbabwe coming to this series had a poor run loosing their last 16 ODIs facing humiliating whitewash in their last 5 series. This win will definitely give a boost to their cricket and their chance to qualify for World Cup, 2019.
Brief Score -
Sri Lanka 203/8 50 Overs, Gunaratne 59(81) Raza 3/21
Zimbabwe 204/7 38.1 Overs, Masakadza 73(86) Dananjaya 4/47
-Navdeep Sharma
About the author: Author Navdeep Sharma is a sports enthusiast and runs the blog to bring up the news and updates related to sports around the world and to do match briefs. People who like cricket, Football, Hockey, Tennis, Badminton, Snooker etc and would like to be updated about the latest news and updates can visit https://sevensportswithme.blogspot.in/ and subscribe with your email id. You can also click on follow button below the blog.
Comments
Post a Comment