Zimbabwe Win Thriller Against Sri Lanka in Tri-series

Zimbabwe have continued their fine form in ODIs against Sri Lanka as they beat Sri Lanka by 12 runs in the second match of the ongoing Tri-series in Bangladesh. With this win, Zimbabwe have proved to the world that their 3-2 series win against Sri Lanka in 2017 was no fluke!

After losing the first match to the hosts Bangladesh by a huge margin of 8 wickets, Zimbabwe have recovered well to register their first win in the tournament. and once again, it was that man Sikandar Raza who was the hero for Zimbabwe. How good have his performances been? 😮

In their last 6 encounters in this format, Zimbabwe have defeated Sri Lanka on 4 occasions – the first 3 victories came in Sri Lanka’s own backyard before today’s (fourth) victory in Dhaka. Here are the stats for the match results between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in their 6 ODIs:

Match Date	Winner	Margin	Venue
30 June 2017	Zimbabwe	6 Wickets	Galle
02 July 2017	Sri Lanka	7 Wickets	Galle
06 July 2017	Sri Lanka	8 Wickets	Hambantota
08 July 2017	Zimbabwe	4 Wickets	Hambantota
10 July 2017	Zimbabwe	3 Wickets	Hambantota
17 Jan 2018	Zimbabwe	12 runs	Dhaka

Raza was awarded the ‘Man of the Match’ award for his all round performance in today’s game. Scored runs with the bat, took the wicket of Kusal Perera and even took two brilliant catches; the one he came running in to take a diving catch at short mid-wicket to dismiss Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews was the highlight of the day!

Sikandar Raza gets the 'Man of the Match' award for his all round display!
BATTING: 81* off 67 balls with 8 Fours and 1 Six
BOWLING: 10 – 0 – 54 – 1 (Wicket of Kusal Perera)
FIELDING: Two catches to dismiss Mathews and Thisara Perera!#SLvZIM #TriSeries pic.twitter.com/aEHqJr0plE
— Cric Stat (@Cric_Stat) January 17, 2018

Thisara Perera almost threatened to take the game away from Zimbabwe with his quickfire half-century but Tendai Chatara’s timely wickets in the death overs ensured that Zimbabwe and their fans sleep happily tonight.

Kusal Mendis’ batting will still remain a worry for Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe in ODIs. He was today dismissed by Tendai Chatara for a 4-ball DUCK (a score of Zero). This is the fourth time he was dismissed for a duck in ODIs and third time against Zimbabwe!

Score / Balls Faced	Against	Venue	Match Date
0 / 9	England	Birmingham	24 June 2016
0 / 1	Zimbabwe	Galle	02 July 2017
0 / 1	Zimbabwe	Hambantota	08 July 2017
0 / 4	Zimbabwe	Dhaka	17 Jan 2018