New Zealand's spin strangle eliminates Sri Lanka

Perhaps Sri Lanka expected the ball to skid on better in the second innings after they won the toss and opted to field first in their Super Eight clash against New Zealand in Colombo. But what unfolded was a taste of the medicine they've often dished out to visiting teams, with a spin-choke sending the co-hosts crashing out of the T20 World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday (February 17). Rachin Ravindra emerged as an unlikely hero with the ball, snaring four wickets with his left-arm spin, although New Zealand found themselves in jeopardy with the bat earlier in the evening.

Despite Dilshan Madushanka getting some swing, New Zealand started in brisk fashion again, although a double-strike would soon land them in soup. Maheesh Theekshana dropped Tim Seifert leaping to his left at short third but pulled off a diving catch off his own bowling to dismiss Finn Allen. Seifert didn't last long though, picking out a leaping Kamindu Mendis at deep backward square leg.

Ravindra and Glenn Phillips first consolidated the innings before deciding to step on the gas. Ravindra was smart in targeting the straight boundary off leggie Dushan Hemantha, smashing him for a four and a six in that region. While he too got a reprieve as Dasun Shanaka spilled a skier running in from long off, Dushmantha Chameera cleaned up Phillips the very next ball. A collapse then followed as Theekshana prized out Ravindra and Mark Chapman within the space of three deliveries, bamboozling the latter with a cracking off-spinner. Dunith Wellalage then castled Daryl Mitchell with the arm ball as New Zealand sank from 75/2 to 84/6.

Cole McConchie, who was drafted in for James Neesham, and skipper Mitchell Santner dropped anchor, although the runs were hard to come by. McConchie, who was on 3 off 12 at one stage, then switched gears, smashing Chameera for two sixes and a four in the 17th over to inject momentum into the innings.

Santner then tore into Theekshana, clobbering two massive sixes over mid-wicket in a 21-run over. He used his bottom-hand power to great effect with a maximum off Dilshan Madushanka, who sent down as many as three wides in the penultimate over. Chameera executed his wide yorker fairly well in the final over but when he got it wrong, Santner made him pay for it before eventually being dismissed off the last ball of the innings. Not before smashing 47, however, as New Zealand doubled their score from 84/6, with a whopping 70 of those coming in the last four overs alone.

Matt Henry got New Zealand's defence off to the perfect start, sending down a cracking in-ducker to clean up the in-form Pathum Nissanka off the very first ball. He bowled a wicket maiden and backed it up with a cleverly executed slower one into the pitch to bounce out Charith Asalanka, who was in for his first match of the tournament. McConchie and Santner bowled with control and extracted turn, keeping the scoring rate comfortably in check as Sri Lanka's 20/2 marked the slowest Powerplay yet of the tournament.

With the asking rate climbing and the pitch not getting any better to bat on, the risks were bound to come when Ravindra was summoned into the attack. He successfully threw the bait at both Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake, making them reach out wide to have them stumped across his first three deliveries. Ravindra went on to cut Sri Lanka's middle-order to size - while Shanaka miscued a short delivery, Hemantha slogged a full one against the turn to long on, handing the left-arm spinner his fourth wicket.

The glum looks on the faces of the Sri Lankan think-tank told a story as they saw both the chase and their World Cup dream come apart in front of their eyes. New Zealand were so content with bowling spin that Lockie Ferguson sent down a solitary over while Henry never returned for a second spell. Ish Sodhi failed to make the most of a helpful surface, but it made little difference as Ravindra and Glenn Phillips completed their quota of overs with the batters going through the motions.

Sri Lanka were not bowled out, but New Zealand completed a comprehensive 61-run demolition act to confirm the co-hosts' elimination, while also complicating Pakistan's task with the Net Run Rate equation.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 168/7 in 20 overs (Mitchell Santner 47, Cole McConchie 31*, Maheesh Theekshana 3-30, Dushmantha Chameera 3-38) beat Sri Lanka 107/8 in 20 overs (Kamindu Mendis 31, Rachin Ravindra 4-27, Matt Henry 2-3, Mitchell Santner 1-19) by 61 runs