‌SL vs NED | Twitter reacts to Asalanka-Thushara decimate Dutch army to earn consolation triumph

Finding them in a do-or-die match at the fag end of the group stages, Netherlands captain  Scott Edwards won the toss and elected to field first against Sri Lanka. Vivian Kingma struck on the second ball of the innings by drawing the outside edge of Pathum Nissanka for a third-man grab before Kamindu Mendis accompanied Kusal Mendis for a 39-run stand. Paul van Meekeren earned his 100th T20I scalp in the sixth over to wrap up Sri Lanka’s 45-run powerplay. Mendis found the middle of the bat quite often during his 29-ball 46-run stay before holing out in the deep in the 12th over. 21 balls later, a well-set Dhananjaya de Silva fell cheaply with Sri Lanka’s score reading 124/4 in 15 overs. However, the Dutch bowlers failed to capitalise on the comeback as Charith Asalanka initiated a blitzkrieg that Angelo Mathews and Wanindu Hasaranga carried on, extracting 48 runs in the last three overs to steer Sri Lanka to 201/6 in 20 overs.  

Similar to their counterparts, the men in Orange lost a couple of wickets inside the field restrictions amidst a flamboyant batting display from Michael Levitt, smashing a six against Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Thusara, and Maheesh Theekshana each. Following the openers' departure, the middle order stumbled to hunt a 200-plus target, throwing away wickets to Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Matheesha Pathirana. With the scoreboard reflecting 83/7 in 12 overs, Scott Edwards seemed like the lone warrior fighting hard for the Dutch Army. Failing out assistance from the other end, the skipper fell in the 17th over off Thushara and Paul van Meekeren followed suit in a couple of balls as the Netherlands succumbed for 118 runs, handing the Lankan Lions with a consolation victory before the two teams bowed out of the tourney.

#Srilanka won the match against #Netherlands by 83 runs in #ICC Men's #cricket #worldcup 2024 but both teams are out of the wc now...#vannewsagencyhttps://t.co/oRYxnau0Wa pic.twitter.com/AMAWQXOxhz

— VAN NEWS AGENCY (@vannewsagency) June 17, 2024

Good win!

When I was a kid, I remember reading the Ned Kelly letters in a book I had back then (name and title lost to time). He was very eloquent, and he made some good points about how bad things were back then.



Wouldn't defend every choice he made, but extreme times...

— Peter von Kittenmask (@vonkittenmask) June 17, 2024

Big margin win!

Sri Lanka won by 83 runs against the Netherlands.

Both teams have not qualified for Super8.#SLVNED#T20WORLDCUP

— @salla (@iamsalla) June 17, 2024

Wow! 

Hasaranga and co

201/6#SLvsNED pic.twitter.com/ZEZXKbz0ga

— wajith.sm (@sm_wajith) June 17, 2024