In their must-win match on Thursday, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in Bengaluru, to increase their chances of moving into the semi-final of the ICC World Cup 2023. With this win, New Zealand remain in the fourth position in the points table.
New Zealand won the toss earlier in the day and invited Sri Lanka to bat first. However, Sri Lanka were bundled out for 171 runs, which New Zealand comfortably chased down in 23.2 overs, losing just five wickets in the process.
Poor batting by Sri Lanka
For Sri Lanka, only Kusal Perera and Maheesh Theekshana showed some resilience with the bat. While Perera gave the team a good start, scoring 51 runs off 28 deliveries, which included nine boundaries and two sixes, Theekshana scored 38 runs off 91 deliveries, which included three boundaries. Only three other batsmen, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva and Dilshan Madhushanka, reached two-figure runs.
Even as Mathews scored 16 runs that included two boundaries , de Silva contributed 19 runs that included two boundaries and a huge six. Madhushanka also scored nineteen runs, which also included two boundaries. For New Zealand, Trent Bolt took three wickets, while Locky Ferguson, Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra took two wickets each. Tim Southee took one wicket.
Chasing the target, Devon Convey top scored for New Zealand with 45 runs with the help of nine boundaries. He put on an 86 run partnership with Rachin Ravindra for the first wicket, before being caught by de Silva off the bowling of Dushmantha Chameera in the second ball of the 12th over. Ravindra also contributed 42 runs, which included three fours and as many sixes. Another batsman, Daryl Mitchell, too, scored 43 runs which included five boundaries and two sixes. For Sri Lanka, Mathews took two wickets, while Theekshana and Chameera took one wicket each.
Net Run Rate
New Zealand is currently at 10 points. Notably, all eyes are now on the South Africa and Afghanistan match on Friday, as well as another one between England and Pakistan, to be played on Saturday. While Afghanistan and Pakistan are on 8 points each, victories in their matches will also earn them the same point as New Zealand.
However, New Zealand is currently at the comfortable position with a better Net Run Rate (NRR) of +0.743. Afghanistan and Pakistan have +0.036 and -0.338 NRRs respectively.