HASARANGA’S FIVE HELPS SRI LANKA DEMOLISH OMAN

BY M. SHAMIL AMIT

A match that promised a close contest turned out to be anything but as spinner Wanindu Hasaranga followed his sixwicket haul from Monday against the UAE, to torment Omen’s middle and lower order, on the way to a comprehensive 10-wicket win for Sri Lanka in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier played at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe yesterday.

Sri Lanka chasing a simple target of 99 runs for victory did so without breaking a sweat, openers Pathum Nissanka and man in form Dimuth Karunaratne sending the Oman bowlers on a leather hunt. Karunaratne remained unbeaten on 61 made in 51 balls which had eight boundaries while Nissanka chipped in with 37 in 39 balls with five boundaries for Sri Lanka to race to the target in just 15 overs.

Much was expected from the Oman team having won their first two matches comfortably, both by five wickets, including victory over Test cricket playing Ireland. The rot for Oman began in the early stages of their innings after being invited to take first lease of the wicket, succumbing to right arm pacie Lahiru Kumara, who took three of the four wickets that were lost by the tenth over with just 20 runs on the board. With the brunt of the batting gone the fifth wicket pair opener Jatinder Singh and Ayaan Khan put in some resistance and managed to share a partnership of 52 runs for the fifth wicket.

Spinner Hasaranga came in the 21st over of the Oman innings and in his third over broke the spine of the Omani batting, picking up a triple-wicket maiden. He broke the fifth wicket partnership with the first ball of that over and then bagged two more scalps in the third and sixth deliveries to reduce the Omanis to 72 for 7. With Sri Lanka in control the late order batting of Oman was unable to make any impression and Hasaranga added two scalps, including the wicket of top scorer Ayaan Khan who made 41 to finish with figures of 5 for 13 to bundle out Oman for a meager 98 runs. Hasaranga’s superlative effort saw him bagging his second successive player of the match award. Sri Lanka will play Ireland in their match tomorrow at the same venue.