Sharjah: South Africa revived their campaign in ICC World T20 after edging past Sri Lanka by 4 wickets in Super 12,Group 1 in Sharjah on Saturday.
Chasing 143, the Proteas needed 15 off the penultimate over. David Miller(23*) showed ice-cool nerves as he muscled a couple of huge sixes under immense pressure from Lahiru Kumara to close the gap before Kagiso Rabada edged one to the boundary to seal the deal.
However, they had to dig deep after the batting line-up failed to build up good partnerships against the disciplined lankan bowlers. Dushmanta Chameera(2/27) jolted the Proteas twice in the fourth over of the innings sending both Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock home. Skipper Temba Bavuma(46) and Aiden Makram(19) rebuilt the innings quite a bit although the later struggled to find the rhythm as he fell to Hasaranga.
Bavuma anchored the innings with captain’s knock of 46 but got dismissed at a crucial moment, unable to clear the fence finding Nissanka at the boundary. Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga(3/20) ran through their middle order as completed his hat-trick and included himself in a unique list of players to have done the feat in both ODI’s and T20’s. However, the Lahiru Kumara failed to keep things tight in the last where it needed.
Earlier, Sri Lanka scratched their way to 142 before getting all-out. Their batting line up collapsed horribly with Pathum Nissanka(72), the anchor man throughout the innings. Apart from him,Charith Asalanka(21) and skipper Dasun Shanaka(11) were the only couple of players who went to double digits.
The Protea bowlers came out with all guns blazing with Tabraiz Shamsi(3/17) and Dwaine Pretorius(3/17) topping while star seamer Anrich Notrje(2/27) also bowled tight spell.
Brief Scores: South Africa in overs(Temba Bavuma 46, David Miller 23*; Wanindu Hasaranga 3/20) beat Sri Lanka 142 all-out in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 72, Charith Asalanka 21; Tabraiz Shamsi 3/17, Dwaine Pretorius 3/17) by 4 wickets
