Muscat: Sri Lanka A secured a convincing 42-run win over Hong Kong in the ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup at Al Amerat on Sunday. Batting first, Sri Lanka A put up an impressive 178-5 in their 20 overs.
Opener Yashoda Lanka, who was adjudged the player of the match, smashed 56 off 44 balls with three boundaries and two sixers. Nuwanidu Fernando (25 off 18), Ramesh Mendis (24 off 12), Pavan Rathnayake (23 off 21), and Sahan Arachchige (23 off 15) were the other main contributors.
For Hong Kong, Ateeq Iqbal took 2-26. In reply, Hong Kong made a disastrous start as they lost four wickets in the first powerplay. In 10 overs, Hong Kong were struggling at 62 for 5 wickets.
Yasim Murtaza hit a 31-ball 44 with four mighty sixers to energise the chase along with Babar Hayat (38 off 41), but the asking rate was too high to reach. Opener Zeeshan Ali (18 off 14) and Martin Coetzee (15 off 12) were the other notable scorers.
Sri Lanka A's bowlers applied consistent pressure with 42 dot balls, restricting Hong Kong’s momentum. Nipun Ransika was the best in the business, taking 3 wickets for 17 runs in his 3 overs. Eshan Malinga took 2-20.
Sri Lanka A reached their 100 in 12.5 overs with their batters constructing some useful partnerships to keep up the momentum. Hong Kong lacked good partnerships as they reached 100 in 15.3 overs. This was the first win for Sri Lanka A after their opening loss to Afghanistan A. Hong Kong lost both of their two matches.
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