Chittagong, Mar 24:
Sri Lanka recorded the fastest ever victory in a Twenty20 International as they thrashed a hapless Netherlands by nine wickets in just five overs in a Group 1 Super 10 match of the ICC World T20 here today.
Put into bat, minnows Netherlands could survive just 10.3 overs as they were shot out for a miniscule 39, the lowest ever completed innings total in a T20 International history and the Lankans took just 30 deliveries to chase down the target.
Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene remained unbeaten on 12 and 11 respectively after opener Kusal Perera was out for 14 in one of the most lopsided matches in cricket history at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
Sri Lanka’s win today was the largest margin of victory in terms of balls remaining as they overhauled the target — by reaching 40 for one — with 15 overs to spare.
The previous largest margin of victory in terms of balls remaining in a Twenty20 International was Ireland’s 10-wicket victory over Kenya at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in March 2012, which was achieved with 76 ball (12.4 overs) to spare.
In that match, Kenya were shot out for 71 in 19 overs and Ireland chased down the target in 7.2 overs.
With today’s win, their second on the trot, Sri Lanka are on top of Group 1 with four points from two matches. They had beaten South Africa by five runs on Saturday.
Earlier, Sri Lanka shot out Netherlands for just 39, with Angelo Mathews and Ajantha Mendis wrecking havoc with three-wicket burst each. Netherlands batsmen were simply run over by the Lankan bowlers.
For Netherlands only Tom Copper could reach double digit score of 16 while five of them were dismissed for nought.
This was the lowest ever T20 International innings total, the earlier lowest being the 56 scored by Kenya while chasing a target of 163 against Afghanistan at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in September last year.
Mathews had the wickets of opener Michael Swart (0) and wicketkeeper Wesley Barresi (1) off consecutive balls in the second over but could not come up with a hat-trick. But, he came back to dismiss captain Peter Borren for nought in his next over to rock Netherlands innings.
The Dutch, who qualified for the Super 10 after defeating Ireland, were nine for four then and after a brief resistance, they suffered a dramatic batting collapse with Mendis taking two wickets in quick succession.
Netherlands lost three wickets in the same score of 39 with Mendis dismissing Pieter Seelaar (0) and Ahsan Jamil (0) in a space of three balls.
Lasith Malinga took two wickets and Nuwan Kulasekara chipped in with one scalp each. (PTI)
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