Sri Lanka opt to bowl in series decider

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl first in the third and final T-20 International against Zimbabwe in Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium on Thursday.

Sri Lanka made two changes as Kusal Perera and Charith Asalanka were left out. Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis are replacing them. Asalanka, who top scored with 69 in the last game is unwell.

Zimbabwe did one change by bringing in Tony Munyonga for Ryan Burl.  There’s everything to play for in the third T-20 with the series levelled at 1-1.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Zimbabwe. They suffered successive T-20 series defeats to Namibia and Ireland and were knocked out of this year’s T-20 World Cup after losing to Uganda in the qualifiers. The defeats forced Head Coach Dave Houghton to step down.

They started off the tour of Sri Lanka losing the ODI series 2-0 but fared much better in the T-20s. After losing the first game in a last ball thriller, they bounced back winning the second game by four wickets to square the series.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, are searching for their first T-20 series win since winning the Asia Cup in September 2022.

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (Wicketkeeper), Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga (Captain), Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera and Dilshan Madushanka.    

Zimbabwe: Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza (Captain), Tony Munyonga, Clive Madande (Wicketkeeper), Luke Jongwe, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani and Brian Bennett.    

 Umpires: Lyndon Hannibal (SL) and Prageeth Rambukwella (SL)

Television Umpire: and Ravindra Wimalasiri (SL)   

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SL)