Despite losing four games in a row after getting their campaign off to a solid start, New Zealand entered their final ICC World Cup league match against Sri Lanka widely expected to clinch the fourth and final semi-final spot.
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Pakistan and Afghanistan were the other teams competing with the Black Caps for a place in the knockouts where they would join hosts India as well as South Africa and Australia.
With their comfortable five-wicket victory over the 1996 world champions at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday, however, the Black Caps once again underlined their credentials as a side deserving of a place in the top four.
Given they’ve regained their confidence with the victory after a series of defeats, one wouldn’t count out the possibility of a third straight World Cup final for the Kiwis even if they are up against the Rohit Sharma-led Indians, who are the only remaining team to not have lost a single match so far.
Read | How PAK, AFG can qualify for semis after NZ’s victory over SL
Looking back at the events of the New Zealand-Sri Lanka fixture on Thursday, we bring to you five key moments from the 41st match of the tournament:
Boult decimates Lankans with vicious powerplay spell
Though Tim Southee drew first blood for the Black Caps by having opener Pathum Nissanka caught-behind on 2 in his first over of the day, it was Trent Boult who played a central role in New Zealand’s comfortable victory on Thursday with a superb spell of 3/37 from his full quota of overs that included three maidens.
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Boult started on an expensive note, conceding 12 in his second over including a couple of boundaries. He would, however, strike twice in his very next over, getting rid of skipper Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sri Lanka’s leading run-scorer in this World Cup, for 6 and 1 respectively. Charith Asalanka, Sri Lanka’s centurion in their previous game, would later become Boult’s third wicket inside the powerplay.
Perera puts up a lone fight
It was a mixed powerplay for the Sri Lankans on Thursday after they were invited to bat by New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals thanks to Southee’s early strike and Boult’s superb spell on the one hand, while Kusal Perera went all guns blazing on the other. Perera had been having an ordinary run in this World Cup — the only time he entered double digits in six outings before Thursday’s match against New Zealand was in his 82-ball 78 against Australia in Lucknow.
The southpaw however, was back to his best against the Black Caps at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, smashing nine fours and two sixes en route to a 22-ball half-century — his 17th in one-dayers. His whirlwind knock, in which he struck at 182.14, would come to an end in the final over of the powerplay in which he was dismissed in Lockie Ferguson’s second over of the day.
Theekshana, Madushanka delay the innings break
Things went from bad to worse for the Lankans following Perera’s departure. Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva would briefly revive hopes of a fightback with a 34-run sixth-wicket stand before both departed in a space of 11 deliveries. Chamika Karunaratne followed them back to the pavilion soon after, and by the time Dushmantha Chameera was dismissed on 1, Sri Lanka had been reduced to 128/9 at the start of the 33rd over.
The match would have ended a lot more quickly and New Zealand might just have won by an even bigger margin had it not been for a defiant 10-wicket stand between Maheesh Theekshana (38 not out) and Dilshan Madushanka (19), worth 43 off 87 deliveries.
Conway and Ravindra’s match-winning partnership
Despite such a low total on the board at the batting paradise that is the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the prospect of ending their World Cup campaign on a victorious note wasn’t entirely an impossible one for the Sri Lankans and they needed an early wicket or three to put the Black Caps under pressure and hope for a collapse.
Devon Conway and the in-form Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand’s latest opening pair following skipper Williamson’s return to the XI, however, quickly stamped those hopes out with a solid 86-run stand in a little over 12 overs. The pair started off on a steady note before Conway smacked Madushanka, the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing tournament, for three boundaries in a space of four deliveries to signal a shift in their approach. The 50 would soon come up inside seven overs, and from thereon, it was the Black Caps’ game to lose.
Mitchell helps Kiwis survive late wobble
Sri Lanka, though, wouldn’t go down without a fight. Both Conway and Ravindra departed in their forties in consecutive overs, falling to Chameera and Theekshana respectively. Even then, it would have taken a collapse of epic proportions for the Kiwis to fall short of the Sri Lankan total after the kind of start they got off to. All-rounder Daryl Mitchell would once again underline his ability to adapt to the situation and quickly snuffed out any prospect of a Lankan fightback with a 31-ball 43 in which he struck five fours and two sixes.
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New Zealand would suffer a few more hiccups along the way, with Williamson getting cleaned up by Angelo Mathews to become the first of his two wickets of the day. Mark Chapman was run-out for 7 after a mix-up with Mitchell, who himself departed when just 10 runs were needed for victory. Glenn Phillips though, ensured there was no further drama with an unbeaten 17 that contained three fours, including the winning boundary.
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