NZ vs SL T20I: Tim Seifert drives NZ to a series leveling win by 9 wickets

NZ vs Sl, 2nd T20I: New Zealand 146 for 1 (Seifert 79*, Bowes 31, Rajitha 1-25) beat Sri Lanka (De Silva 37, Milne 5-26, Lister 2-26) by nine wickets

Adam Milne took five wickets as New Zealand’s seamers stopped Sri Lanka from scoring, and Tim Seifert, who hit 79 not out off 43 balls, helped New Zealand reach their modest target of 142. New Zealand won the series in a game that was mostly extremely one-sided after the Super Over thriller in Auckland.

After being put into bat, Sri Lanka had competed in the early stages, reaching 89 for 2 in eleven overs. However, the innings began to slide after the close dismissals of Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva, who were the set batters. After 19 overs, they were all out for 141, and they appeared to be on track to reach 180 at one point.

Chad Bowes was the first to help New Zealand set off quickly. With only nine wickets remaining and 32 deliveries, they reduced the total.

The turning point: Perera and de Silva fall in quick succession

When Perera and de Silva batted, they made 62 off 46 balls, and Sri Lanka appeared to be heading for another big score. Charith Asalanka, who was playing well, came in next, followed by Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga, both of whom hit a lot.

After hitting a slower Milne ball straight to deep midwicket, Perera fell for 35 off 32, and de Silva also holed out in the next over, hitting Rachin Ravindra to long off, having scored 37 off 26.

Sri Lanka’s middle order unravels

The remaining batters attempted to break boundaries and also fell. Shanaka skied hard in an effort to push Henry Shipley over the line; After making 24 from 19 shots, Asalanka top-edged a cutter from Milne and Hasaranga couldn’t quite hit a leg cutter from James Neesham over mid-off.

New Zealand won the 2nd T20i cricket match against Sri Lanka by 9 wickets.
SL 141
NZ 146/1#NZvSL #LKA #SriLanka pic.twitter.com/zZq3MTpze1

— Sri Lanka Tweet 🇱🇰 (@SriLankaTweet) April 5, 2023

In total, Sri Lanka has lost eight wickets for 50 runs since the 12th over in 47 balls, with the tail also falling meekly.

Milne’s triple-wicket over

In the 19th over, Asalanka was only the first of Milne’s victims. Milne bowled a fantastic yorker two balls later that bounced off Pramod Madushan’s pads and into the stumps. The yorker to Dilshan Madushanka was considerably more great, taking out center and off stump, to end Sri Lanka’s innings. In his four overs, Milne was 5 for 26. Ben Lister went two-for-sixty.

The Tim Seifert show

Despite the fact that 142 never appeared to be a target that would test New Zealand, Seifert’s spectacular hitting made particularly light work of it. In his first 16 balls, Bowes hit seven fours, so he didn’t hit many strikes. After Bowes’ takeoff in the fourth over, Seifert assumed command, first smacking Madushan through point, prior to sending off Kasun Rajitha for two sixes over lengthy on in the 6th over.

Seifert continued to deal sixes, frequently hitting the wind to clear the University Oval’s narrow boundaries. He trudge cleared both Hasaranga and de Silva for sixes – the first over midwicket, the second over a deep square leg. Later, he reverse-punched de Silva twice for six runs, one of which resulted in the winning runs. In all, Seifert made three fours and six sixes.

Tom Latham, who was his partner in a 106-run partnership that came off 68 balls, played second fiddle, scoring 20 runs out of 30 balls to help the team win comfortably.