Rex Clementine at Pallekele

Having been given a fresh life in white ball cricket, former captain Dinesh Chandimal grabbed the opportunity with both hands posting a match winning 75 to help Sri Lanka to a thrilling five wicket win over Zimbabwe at Pallekele last night.

Set a daunting target of 297, the hosts got home with nine deliveries to spare as Charith Asalanka and Chandimal starred sharing a 129 run stand for the fourth wicket to help Sri Lanka go 1-0 up in the three match series. It’s now the highest successful run chase at Pallekele improving on Sri Lanka’s 288 for eight against Pakistan in 2015.

Çhandimal was not part of the ODI squad but was a late replacement as a COVID scare forced the selectors to withdraw several players.

Pathum Nissanka had batted superbly for his less than run a ball 75 but with his dismissal Sri Lanka were down to 147 for three in the 25th over. With the hosts not having much batting depth, the fourth wicket pair of Chandimal and Asalanka had to rise to the occasion and they did it so well.

Going into the last ten overs, Sri Lanka needed a run a ball and without taking any undue risks Chandimal and Asalanka finished off the job. When the partnership was eventually broken, Sri Lanka needed 21 runs.

The fourth wicket stand was worth 129 and came off 127 deliveries as Sri Lanka started off the new year with a win.

Earlier, the experienced Sean Williams was the mainstay of Zimbabwe innings hitting his fifth ODI century and in the process he became the seventh Zimbabwean to score 4000 runs. He is the fourth fastest Zimbabwean to the milestone behind the Flower brothers and Brendan Taylor.

Williams  half-century came in 52 balls and he required only 34 more deliveries to complete his hundred. His knock contained nine fours and two sixes.

Williams  knock followed after a good partnership by the openers. Regis Chakabva was dropped on two by Charith Asalanka at slip off Nuwan Pradeep and he went onto post his third half-century.  Chakabva made 72 and shared a 80 run stand for the first wicket with Takudzwanashe Kaitano, who was on debut.

Sri Lanka were sloppy with their fielding putting down two straight forward chances and their over rate too was well below par taking 20 minutes more time than the stipulated time limit.

The hosts handed ODI debut to Chamika Gunasekara but after sending one over, the 22-year-old quick returned to the pavilion with a left hamstring strain and never returned.

At 248 for four with six overs remaining, Zimbabwe were threatening to post a total beyond 300 but Sri Lanka pulled things back as there was a flurry of wickets.

Chamika Karunaratne was the pick of the bowlers finishing with three for 69. He picked up two wickets in the last over of the innings and his figures were spoilt as last man Richard Ngarava smashed a six and a four off the last two deliveries of the over.

SLC had decided to allow half of the capacity crowd and close to 10,000 supporters turned up.