Liyanage savours victory more than his century

Janith Liyanage receiving the Man-of-the-Match Award

Janith Liyanage, playing in only his second One Day International (ODI) produced a match-defining performance, one that took his side to a thrilling two-wicket win against Zimbabwe at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Monday.

  
“More than the century, what I wanted was to get the team to victory,” he said. “At that time, we were about five runs behind the DLS score. So, I thought if I hit a six in that over, we’d be able to win even if the match stopped because of rain. All I thought of was winning the match, and I’m glad we were able to get there.”  
Liyanage had also earlier put on a 56-run seventh-wicket stand alongside Maheesh Theekshana, to lift Sri Lanka from a scoreline of 112 for 6.  

“When Maheesh and I were batting, they were bowling their best bowlers, and they only had a few overs left,” Liyanage said. “So we planned to get two or three runs an over off their best bowlers, then take the game into the last five or six overs, and score our runs there.

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The rain had been in the air for much of the chase, with it forcing a long delay 13 overs into Sri Lanka’s innings. The moisture had assisted Zimbabwe’s quicks, according to Liyanage.  
“We lost two wickets at the start, and with the rain, the ball started to move a bit. So I thought at the time that they’ve got two fast bowlers, so I’ll defend against them and if I bat for a while and get set, I could bat till the end.” 

(Agencies)