The home team completed their chase of 130 runs with 28 balls to spare.
Mahela Jayawardene scored a brilliant half-century (65 off 41 balls) as his knock had 10 flashy boundaries and a six.
Classy duo Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara (39) batted impeccably for a 108-run second wicket stand that took the game away from West Indies.
Sangakkara smashed a boundary through long on to bring up his 1,000 runs in the format.
Sri Lanka had a fluent start to the chase with the aggression of their openers. Tillakaratne Dilshan (13) returned being caught behind off a Ravi Rampaul bouncer.
The victory marks good net run rate for Sri Lanka and puts West Indies in a crucial do or die match against New Zealand.
Earlier, a good knock from Marlon Samuels (50) led West Indies to a modest 129 for 5.
The Caribbeans never had the momentum to get to a bigger total at the slow and dusty Pallekele International Cricket Stadium track.
Samuels' fifty came off 34 deliveries with four boundaries and two sixes, before he was caught by Tillakaratne Dilshan in the deep off Angelo Mathews.
Ajantha Mendis picked up his 100th T20I wicket dismissing Kieron Pollard (1) that smashed through the batsman's defences onto the stumps.
Dwayne Bravo (40) played well till he was sent back off a short ball by Jeevan Mendis that he pulled uncomfortably only to hole out Dilshan at long on, ending his 65-run partnership with Samuels.
The West Indies openers were sent packing in a hurry after Darren Sammy won the toss and decided to bat.
Johnson Charles (12) was taken out stumped off Mendis as he came down the track and missed completely, while his partner Chris Gayle (2) was caught behind off a Nuwan Kulasekera slower delivery with only 16 runs on the board.
0 comments:
Post a Comment