New Delhi. The condition of the New Zealand team, which reached Sri Lanka after a historic win against India, was poor in the first ODI match. Hosts Sri Lanka easily defeated New Zealand in a rain-soaked match. As Sri Lanka scored 324 runs in 49.2 overs against New Zealand on Wednesday, it started to rain. New Zealand were then given a target of 221 runs in 27 overs. In response, the New Zealand team could only score 175 runs for 9 wickets. In this way, Sri Lanka won the game by 45 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis rule.

Kusal Mendis’ innings of 143 runs
An ODI match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand took place in Dambulla on Wednesday. Hosts Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first. He lost the wicket of opener Pathum Nissanka (12) early on, but thereafter such a partnership ensued that New Zealand’s condition worsened. For Sri Lanka, wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Mendis played an innings of 143 runs while Avishka Fernando scored 100 runs.

Record partnership of 206 runs
Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando formed a 206-run partnership for the second wicket. This is the record of Sri Lanka’s greatest partnership against New Zealand in ODI matches. Previously, the partnership record of 201 runs was shared by Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga. Both had formed a 201-run partnership at Napier in 2006.

Captain Aslanka also showed good hands
After Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando, captain Charit Asalanka also showed good hands in the last overs. He scored 40 runs in 28 balls. Thanks to Kusal, Avishka and Charit, Sri Lanka had scored 324 runs for 5 wickets in 49.2 overs at the time play was suspended. For New Zealand, Jacob Duffy took a maximum of 3 wickets. Michael Bracewell and Ish Sodhi took one wicket each.

New Zealand’s innings sank in an attempt to increase the run rate
Openers Will Young (48) and Tim Robinson (35) gave New Zealand a good but slow start. Both scored 88 runs in 13.2 overs. This pair fell apart due to the firing of Tim Robinson. When New Zealand lost the first wicket, they were still 133 runs away from victory, which they had to achieve in 13.4 overs. This wasn’t going to be easy at all, and it wasn’t. In an attempt to increase the run rate, New Zealand quickly lost wickets and moved away from the target. Ultimately, the score could only reach 175 runs for 9 wickets after 27 overs.

Tags: Kusal Mendis, New Zealand, Sri Lanka