Kusal Mendis leads Sri Lanka to T20 World Cup Super 12

Mendis’s performance helped Sri Lanka reach the Super 12 in the T20 World Cup. Kusal Mendis’ blazing 79 not out off only 44 balls sent Sri Lanka, the defending Asian champions, into the Twenty20 World Cup Super 12 on Thursday. Kusal Mendis leads Sri Lanka to T20 World Cup Super 12

The Dutch were unable to chase down the target of 162 runs set by the eighth-best team in the world, who scored 102 of those runs in the final 10 overs. They lost by nine wickets with 146 runs. The Super 12 group in which Namibia and the United Arab Emirates will compete will be decided after the second match in Geelong.

A win by the Africans would oust the Dutch from the competition due to their superior net run rate. The Dutch will advance if the United Arab Emirates can pull off an upset against Namibia. Sri Lanka has qualified for the Super 12 for the third year in a row, and their skipper, Dinesh Chandimal, led the side to victory in 2014.

Sri Lanka has qualified for Super 12 in the T20 World Cup. The road wasn’t smooth, though; after being stunned by Namibia in the opening game, they went on to beat the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands to win the tournament. After winning the toss and deciding to bat, Sri Lanka struggled to put up any early runs.

New troops for Sri Lanka’s attack Since pace spearheads Dushmantha Chameera and Pramod Madushan were both injured, Lahiru Kumara and Binura Fernando kept the Dutch at bay in the early overs. Dusan Shanaka caught Vikramjit Singh, who was attempting to hit a ball from Mahesh Theekshana, for seven, and then Kumara took the important wicket of rising star De Leede, who was out for fourteen.

It was 63-3 at the break, and the veteran Colin Ackermann had been out to a golden duck off Hasaranga de Silva’s spin. Although opening batsman Max O’Dowd (71 not out) put up a spirited fight, the team’s collapse from 100-4 to 109-8 was partly due to the removal of captain Scott Edwards, who was bowled by Fernando for a quick 21.

Thanks to the cautious hitting of Pathum Nissanka and Mendis, he was limited to just 22 runs in the opening five overs. Nissanka’s wicket was dropped in the fifth over, and the returning hostile pace bowler Paul Van Meekeren dismissed him with a yorker for 14 runs.

Dhananjaya de Silva was also lbw off the next ball and walked back to the pavilion. As a result of their reckless play, Sri Lanka came close to losing several times. Charith Asalanka and Mendis put up a 60-run stand to quicken the run tempo till Asalanka was caught behind off all-rounder Bas de Leede for 31.

After Mendis hit a six, he had completed his eighth T20 half century. So, in the next-to-last over, he smashed two more sixes before he was nearly run out while trying to hit another boundary and was eventually caught.