New Zealand wins the T20 series with a dramatic win against Sri Lanka
Tim Seifert’s blazing 88 helped New Zealand defeat Sri Lanka by four wickets in Saturday’s dramatic third and final Twenty20 international in Queenstown, completing a 2-1 series win.
New Zealand wins the T20 series: Seifert’s 48-ball assault on Sri Lanka’s bowlers included 10 fours and three sixes as New Zealand chased 183 with relative ease, but a dramatic final over in which three wickets fell made for a tense finale.
New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in the third and final Twenty20 international to win the series 2-1. Tim Seifert’s 88 off 48 balls, including 10 fours and three sixes, set up New Zealand’s chase of 183. Sri Lanka fought back and took three wickets in the final over, but Rachin Ravindra ensured there was no Super Over drama as New Zealand won with two balls to spare. Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis hit 73 off 48 balls, but they were 10-15 runs short of a winning total..
The 28-year-old, whose unbeaten 79 paved the way for a nine-wicket victory in the second game, fell to Pramod Madushan in the 17th over with New Zealand comfortably placed at 154 for four.
Mark Chapman hit Lahiru Kumara for a six before being caught at cover with New Zealand needing 10 in the final over. Sri Lanka fought back from there, and New Zealand needed 10 in the final over.
Jimmy Neesham was then run out on the next delivery, and Daryl Mitchell also departed, but Rachin Ravindra ensured there would be no Super Over drama like in the first match by maintaining his composure and guiding his team to victory.
“We were ahead of the run rate, and it is sometimes necessary to downshift,” Seifert explained. “There is an equilibrium. The over I bowled was the one in which we planned to score 10 to 20 runs.
And as we later discovered, it only takes a couple of wickets for the bowling side to get back into the game. In both the preceding test and one-day international series, the hosts defeated Sri Lanka by 2-0 margins.
Sri Lanka’s openers Pathum Nissanka (25) and Kusal Mendis (73) faced difficult swing bowling in the first six overs after New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Mendis, who was dropped on 10 by Mitchell at slip, proceeded to torment New Zealand with a 48-ball innings that included six fours and five sixes as the 28-year-old reached his 12th half-century alongside Kusal Perera. (33).
After the opening duo had departed, Dhananjaya de Silva and captain Dasun Shanaka got off to solid starts, but the tourists were unable to put New Zealand to the sword and fell short of a match-winning total.
