Sri Lanka will play their 100th T20 International match today against the mighty Indians. How has the team performed so far; 99 matches, 52 wins, 46 losses and 1 no result. A win percentage of 52.5 is commendable.
Only Pakistan and New Zealand has played over 100 T20’s and Sri Lanka will become the 3rd nation today.
1st T20 – Sri Lanka Vs England on 28/08/2006 at the Rose Bowl
Sri Lanka won their first ever T20 match by 2 runs. Batting first the Lions made 163 for 10 in 20 overs behind the back of 41 by Sanath and 34 by Tharanga. England could only manage 161 for 5 in 20 overs, Trescothick top scored with 72 but running himself out and he wasn’t able to take the Englishmen over the line. Sanath took 2 for 32 in his 4 overs and became the man of the match for his all-round performance.
25th T20 – Sri Lanka took on India in India on 12/12/2009 at Punjab Cricket Association stadium in a very high scoring match where the teams aggregate was 417 in 40 overs, India just won by 6 wickets with 5 balls in hand.
Batting first the Lankans made a strong 206 for the loss of 7 wickets in their 20 overs; Captain Sangakkara made 59 off 31 balls well supported by a lesser heard and less famous Chinthaka Jayasinghe who scored 38 runs with Sanath chipping in with 31. India chased down the target in 19.1 with Shewag top scoring with 64, Yuvraj with a 60 off 25 balls and MSD with 46. Yuvi was the man of the match for his 3 for 23 and unbeaten 60.
50th T20 on 26/01/2013 at the ANZ stadium Sri Lanka took on Australia in Sydney and they were able to win by 5 wickets with 7 balls to spare.
Australia made 137 and 65.5% of the runs came from the bat of David Warner who made an unbeaten 90 off 62 balls, but this was not enough and due to the lack of support from others a score was not a challenging one at all. Sri Lanka chased down the target in 18.5 overs with 5 wickets in hand, Captain Mathews top scored with in 18.5 overs with 5 wickets in hand, Captain Mathews top scored with 35 and dashing opener Kusal Perara made 33 off 22. Even though the Australians lost David Warner was judged the man of the match.
75th T20 on 12/02/2006 at JSCA International stadium complex
Again it was India and again it was another loss. India made a strong 196 for 6 in 20 overs batting first; Dhawan 51, Rohit 43, Raina 30 and Pandya’s quick fire 27 helped India to achieve a strong total. Current Captain Thisara Perera bagged 3 wickets but as usual a touch expensive going at 11.00 per over; 33 runs in 3 overs. The Lankans were bamboozled for a mere 127 runs, Captain Chandimal’s tortoise innings as always of 31 of 30, Kapugedara’s 32, Siriwardena’s 28 and Shanaka’s 27 was not sufficient and quick enough for the Lankans to even get closer to the score. Dhawan was named as the named as the Man of the Match.
Interestingly, Sri Lanka’s 25th and 50th Matches were against India and they lost both the times. Now, the 100th Match will also be played against the Indians.
