NZ vs SL 2024/25, NZ vs SL 2nd ODI Match Report, January 08, 2025

new zealand 255 for 9 wickets (Ravindra 79, Chapman 62, Theekshana 4-44) defeated Sri Lanka 142 (Kamindu 64, O’Rooke 3-31) by 113 runs

With the help of 112-run partnership for the second wicket, New Zealand scored 255 runs for 9 wickets in 37 overs. Rachin Ravindra And mark chapman The basis of that innings. And then Sri Lanka’s top order collapsed and burned again. They had 4 wickets for 22 runs inside the first five overs, their hopes of leveling the series were almost completely destroyed.

Kamindu Mendis Tried to revive the innings, but his 64 runs were not enough to revive the innings. Sri Lanka had to face defeat by 113 runs and also had to face a heavy defeat against New Zealand. in the first ODIDespite being significantly depleted by absences and injuries, New Zealand took the series. Sri Lanka are essentially at full strength, but the failure of their top five is troubling them, even in a rain-shortened match like this.

There were some wobbles in New Zealand too. They were polite in death, like Mahesh Theekshana was particularly effective, take a hat trick In their final two overs, New Zealand did not score more than 63 in the last 10 overs and lost five wickets during this period. But they did not fall spectacularly enough to spoil the Ravindra-Chapman stand. He contributed in the middle along with Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner.

And then they had confident seam bowlers who imposed themselves even on the old ball. Will O’Rourke Took 3 wickets for 31 runs, jacob duffy 2 wickets for 30 runs, while Matt Henry and Nathan Smith took one wicket each. The only example of partnership was between Kamindu and Zenith LianazThe pair added 57 runs for the fifth wicket. Furthermore, New Zealand were picking their way through the batting order, and eventually had them all out within 31 overs.

Sri Lanka’s required rate from the beginning was 6.92. Although this seems like a big challenge, the pitch was good for batting and the start of play was delayed by two and a half hours due to rain, with the wet ball also proving to be a challenge for some of the bowlers. But Sri Lanka needed a strong start to achieve this target and in return they lost.

Pathum Nissanka holed a hole in mid-off in the second over, miserably missing a lofted drive against Duffy. Kusal was then caught behind in the next over by Mendis Duffy, soon after which Avishka Fernando hit a ball from Henry straight to point. Captain Charith Asalanka’s horrendous decision on one run left Sri Lanka in trouble. He intercepted one at mid-off towards Mitchell Santner and called his partner in. Santner pounced on the ball, hit the stumps with an under-arm throw and had Asalanka caught a few meters short. Kamindu was out in exactly the same manner to the same fielder on Sunday also.

With Asalanka out, Sri Lanka still needed to score 234 runs from 194 balls with only two specialist batsmen and two all-rounders left. They didn’t get particularly far.

Contrast this with New Zealand’s top order, who put their team in a strong position in the first 22 overs, with Ravindra scoring 79 off 63 balls and Chapman scoring 62 off 52 balls.

The most impressive thing about their approach was how comfortably both batsmen were scoring runs at a fast pace. Ravindra was as strong as ever in the offside, but he scored a lot of runs down the leg, using sweeps and pick-up shots off the pads to particularly good effect.

Meanwhile, Chapman was certainly strong on the leg side, scoring 46 of his 63 runs in that direction. He hit two sixes – one over the keeper and the other over midwicket on a short ball from Ishan Malinga, completing his half-century in 44 balls and also completing the century partnership. Ravindra also completed his half-century by hitting a six off Hasaranga. It took him 43 balls to reach there.

Earlier, Asitha Fernando had bowled Will Young with an excellent jigging ball, but Sri Lanka’s pace bowlers did not test either Ravindra or Chapman for long. In fact, it was the spinners who caused even a little discomfort – between them, Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga took six wickets.

Sri Lanka fielded well and made errors at a higher rate in the latter half of the innings. Asalanka took an excellent diving catch at short cover to dismiss Ravindra and Theekshana took a hat-trick with Chamindu Wickremesinghe and Kamindu taking some brilliant catches in the deep.

But even on the field, New Zealand went ahead of them. His ground fielding was again superb, and the catch of the day was Nathan Smith, who crossed the boundary to the deep-third boundary, springing himself to his feet and getting his right hand to a ball that might otherwise have crossed the boundary . Get Malinga out.

Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer for ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf

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