Fabian Allen hit three mighty sixes within the nineteenth over to assist the West Indies to a series-clinching, three-wicket win over Sri Lanka within the third T20 worldwide. Chasing Sri Lanka’s modest 131-4, the West Indies had been once more constrained by Sri Lanka’s spin assault and got here to the 18th over at 105-7, needing 27 runs from 18 balls.
Captain Jason Holder, cool and with a plan in thoughts, blocked out the 18th over, the final from harmful spinner Wanindudu Hasaranga, save for a six from a free hit which helped break the mounting pressure.
With 20 runs wanted from the final two overs, Allen hit sixes from the primary, third and final balls of the nineteenth over from Akila Dananjaya to get the West Indies dwelling with an over to spare to clinch the series 2-1.
Allen hit 21 runs from six balls and in addition took 1-13 from 4 overs to earn player-of-the-match honors. He mentioned there was no panic within the West Indies dressing room, even when their largest hitters failed to fireplace.
“We have a lot of batting power,” Allen mentioned. “I told Jason Holder that I’m not comfortable batting against Hasaranga. So I told him to bat him out and I’ll be finishing. I just backed myself in the end. It was a good performance overall.”
The match was one other low-scoring chapter in a low-scoring series wherein all three matches had been performed on spin-friendly pitches at Coolidge. In the primary match, the West Indies scored 134-6 to overtake Sri Lanka’s 131-9. In the second, Sri Lanka’s 160-6 was too good for the house facet who had been all out for 117.
For the third time in a row, Sri Lanka selected to bat on profitable the toss on Sunday. The top-order faltered and Sri Lanka discovered itself with a continuing want to reset or rebuild. After 10 overs, the vacationers had been solely 46-4 and had been below strain to set a difficult whole.
Dinesh Chandimal and Ashen Bandera stepped up to produce an unbroken partnership of 85 from 63 balls to carry Sri Lanka to 131 with out additional loss. Chandimal completed 54 not out from 46 balls and Bandera 44 from 35.
The West Indies made a strong begin with Lendl Simmons (26) and Evin Lewis (21) placing on 38 for the primary wicket. Both fell to Hasaranga, who set in movement a droop within the West Indies center order.
Captain Kieron Pollard promoted himself to No. 4 within the hope of hitting the house workforce shut to victory however was out for a third-ball duck. Chris Gayle adopted after an unusually watchful 13 from 20 balls.
Nicholas Pooran made a promising 23 from 18 balls however adopted Pollard in falling to paceman Dushmantha Chameera, who completed with 2-23 in unhelpful circumstances. Wrist spinner Lackshan Sandakan eliminated Rovman Powell (7) and Dwayne Bravo (0) with consecutive deliveries within the seventeenth over and the momentum of the match appeared to be shifting in Sri Lanka’s favor till Powell hit his workforce dwelling.
The first of three ODIs between the groups begins on the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Thursday.
