Sri Lanka thrashed Netherlands by 83 runs in the 38th match of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup to end their forgettable campaign on a high. Having already been eliminated from the race for the Super Eight, the Lankan Lions played for their pride against the Dutch and salvaged it at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia.
Netherlands got off to a fantastic start after inviting Sri Lanka to bat first. Right-arm speedster Vivian Kingma drew first blood for Netherlands as he dismissed Pathum Nissanka on the second delivery of the match. Paul van Meekeren got rid of Kamindu Mendis to put Sri Lanka's scoring rate in check inside the powerplay.
However, things went out of hand for Netherlands when Dhananjaya de Silva joined Kusal Mendis in the middle. The pair added 45 runs for the third wicket to bring Sri Lanka back into the game. Kusal fought fire with fire and played an impressive knock of 46 off just 29 balls at a strike rate of 158.62. His innings was studded with five fours and gave the rest of the batters the launchpad they required.
Charith Asalanka capitalised on the impact created by Kusal and launched a merciless onslaught on the Dutch bowlers. Though Asalanka missed out on his fifty, he scored 46 off just 21 deliveries to power Sri Lanka over the 200-run mark.
Asalanka was supported well by former captain Angelo Mathews. Mathews batted at a strike rate of 200.00 and smashed two sixes and a four during his 15-ball 30*.
Chasing 202 to win, Netherlands required a power-packed start and it came from their opening pair of Max O'Dowd and Michael Levitt. The duo aggregated 45 runs in 27 balls before Nuwan Thushara helped Sri Lanka see the back of O'Dowd.
The dismissal led to a collapse of gigantic proportions as Netherlands folded for 118 runs in 16.4 overs. Levitt (31 off 23 balls) and Scott Edwards (31 off 24 balls) top-scored for Netherlands.
