New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 4 wickets

Sports Desk: Tim Southee continues his winning run as a captain as New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in the second T20I with two balls to spare.

Chasing a target of 162, New Zealand lost three wickets in the powerplay overs. They were one batsman short as Martin Guptill could not come out to bat because of stomach cramps.

The fourth-wicket partnership between Colin de Grandhomme and Tom Bruce kept the BlackCaps in the hut. Grandhomme scored a 46-ball 59 and Bruce scored a 46-ball 53.

The Kiwis lost quick wickets in death overs but Mitchell Santner finished the game with two hits in the final over.

Spinner Akila Dananjaya took three wickets in his spell. Lasith Malinga could not get to 100 T20I wickets as he remained wicketless. Lakshan Sandakan bowled an economical spell and gave just 16 runs in his quota of four overs.

Earlier, Malinga won the toss and elected to bat first. The 68-run partnership between Avishka Fernando and Niroshan Dickwella for the third wicket brought hosts’ innings back on track after losing both openers. Sri Lanka kept losing wickets but managed to post a fighting total of 161/9 in first innings. Once again, Southee bowled an economical spell and picked up two wickets. The skipper gave just 18 runs in his quota of four overs. Seth Rance took three wickets for 33 runs whereas Scott Kuggeleijn took two wickets for 38 runs.

risingbd/Sept 4, 2019/Mukul