Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Colombo: Sri Lanka batter Janith Liyanage guided hosts to a thrilling victory against Zimbabwe in the second ODI of the three-match series on Monday at the R. Premadasa Stadium, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Liyange scored 95 off 127 balls and he was the highest score of the side. The right-hand batter missed his well-deserved maiden ton by just five runs as he was dismissed by seamer, Blessing Muzarbani in the 43rd over.
As rain fell in the final half hour of play, the islanders would eventually make it to their target of 209. Liyanage explained that the rain, not the scoreline or the desire to hit a century, forced him to take the risk in the 43rd over.
"More than a century, what I wanted was to get the team to victory. At that time, we were about five runs behind the DLS score. So I thought if I hit a six in that over, we'd be able to win even if the match stopped because of rain. All I thought of was winning the match, and I'm glad we were able to get there," Liyanage was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Liyanage and Maheesh Theekshana put on a 56-run seventh-wicket stand to help Sri Lanka recover from a 112-for-6. Theekshana contributed only 18 to this partnership, allowing Liyanage to bat more aggressively than he did previously in the innings. However, he chose his targets wisely.
"When Maheesh and I were batting, they [Zimbabwe] were bowling their best bowlers, and they only had a few overs left. So our plan was to get two or three runs an over off their best bowlers, then take the game into the last five or six overs, and score our runs there," the Colombo-born player asserted.
Rain had been pouring for most of the chase, causing a 13-over delay in Sri Lanka's innings. According to Liyanage, the wetness helped Zimbabwe's pacers.
"We lost two wickets at the start, and with the rain, the ball started to move a bit. So I thought at the time that they've got two fast bowlers, so I'll defend against them and if I bat for a while and get set, I could bat till the end. Their tall quicks got a bit extra out of the conditions with the rain," the 28-year-old concluded.
