Kusal Perera turned out to be a match winner as Sri Lanka were successful in avoiding clean-sweep in the T20I series against New Zealand. Sri Lanka defeated the hosts by seven runs in a high-scoring encounter at Saxton Oval in Nelson on Thursday, January 2. Batting first, Sri Lanka posted 218/5 before restricting New Zealand to 211/7. However, New Zealand ended up winning the series by 2-1 as they came out victorious in the first two games consecutively.
Talking about the match, batting first, New Zealand lost wickets for 42 runs in five overs. After that, Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando added 41 runs for the third wicket. Fernando got out after scoring 17(12) runs. After that, skipper Charith Asalanka joined Perera at the crease as the duo put up a partnership of 100 runs for the fourth wicket, and laid a foundation for a big total.
Kusal Perera scored 101 as Sri Lanka win 3rd T20I by 7 runs
Charith Asalanka got out after playing a captain’s knock of 46(24) runs, hitting one four and five sixes. On the other hand, Kusal Perera went on to smash his maiden T20I hundred as he got out after scoring 101(46), hitting 113 fours and four sixes. For New Zealand, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Zakary Foulkes, skipper Mitchell Santner, and Daryl Mitchell scalped a wicket each as Sri Lanka posted 218 runs on the board for the loss of five wickets.
Chasing the winning total, Rachin Ravindra top scored with 69(39) runs, hitting five fours and four sixes. Apart from that, Tim Robinson and Daryl Mitchell scored 37(21) and 35(17) respectively as New Zealand gave a tough fight to Sri Lanka. However it wasn’t enough as the hosts fell short of seven runs from the total. For Sri Lanka, Charith Asalanka took three scalps, Wanindu Hasaranga took two, while Nuwan Thushara, and Binura Fernando scalped a wicket each.
