ICC World T20 | Twitter reacts to Kusal Mendis powering Sri Lanka home to comfortable 9-wicket win over Ireland
Sri Lanka breezed through their Super 12 opener against Ireland in Hobart to make a strong statement of their ambitions at the marquee event. After a clinical bowling display, Kusal Mendis starred for the Lions with a boisterous half-century bolstering his team’s net run rate to a great extent.
Ireland’s dream of continuing their momentum after a stellar victory against West Indies came crashing down at the Bellerive Oval on Sunday as they kicked off the second phase of the tournament with a comprehensive thrashing at the hands of Sri Lanka. The Asian contingent dominated all three aspects of the game and in the end, came away with a nine-wicket victory still having 30 balls to spare.
Choosing to set a target, the Irish suffered a major setback on the first ball of the second over itself with last game’s hero skipper Andy Balbirnie departing for just 1. Thereon, they never got into a proper rhythm and lost wickets frequently. Paul Stirling and Harry Tector put up valiant fights with knocks of 34(25) and 45(42) respectively but a lack of a late outburst meant it was only enough to get them to 128/8. It was the usual suspects that enabled such a clinical bowling performance for Sri Lanka, with spin duo Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana each scalping two victims.
In response, Ireland were uncharacteristically sloppy on the field, missing multiple run-outs and a couple of sitters. Filling in as the opener for the rested Pathum Nissanka, Dhananjaya de Silva set the foundation with a well-calculated 31(25). Kusal Mendis built on it with a commanding unbeaten 68 off just 43 deliveries, including a late blitzkrieg to get home well in advance.
Class apart
Kusal Mendis is a world-class all-format batsman. 🇱🇰
— Daniel Alexander (@daniel86cricket)
Top notch
Kusal Mendis is now the leading run-scorer of the tournament
— Chenul Wahalathanthri (@Imchenul)
Fatasy player
Yup Kusal Mendis giving more points than any SL bowler in a game Ireland were 128/8. Ekdum meh match
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS)
The winning six
SL win by 9 Wickets. Fittingly Kusal Mendis scores the winning runs ❤
— Darshana (@_TheKande)
Exceptional
Kusal Mendis has been exceptional at the top again laying a platform and kicking on to win. But I have really enjoyed watching Charith Asalanka bat with fluency. A star of the 2021 but has struggled since. Today saw a return of his exquisite timing. Great to see.
— Harrison Burridge (@hburridge2)
Leading the side into victory
Kusal Mendis finally playing upto his potential!
— Monkey Baat (@dr_heiSANEberg)
Fantastic performance
Fifty by Kusal Mendis from 37 balls, Against Ireland, What a lovely player for Srilanka he is.
— Resanth. (@Cric_Resanth)
Back to back
Kusal Mendis' last two innings in this T20 World Cup 2022 - 79(44), 68*(53). He is leading runs scorer in this T20 World Cup so far.
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh)
Up at the top
Fastest Sri Lankan 🇱🇰 to reach 10 T20I 50+ scores.
— Thurunu Jayasiri (@ThurunuJ)
45 innings - KUSAL MENDIS ***
50 innings - Kusal Janith Perera
52 innings - Mahela Jayawardene
57 innings - TM Dilshan
Perfect win
T5: Kusal mendis hit the winning six and srilanka won the match by 9 Wickets easy win from sl... Very Good bowling by srilanka and clean batting by kusal mendis.. I thought kusal mendis is goona one of the highest run scorer in this world Cup 🏆
— Himanshu Singh (@HimanshuSinghss)
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