T20 World Cup: Sri Lanka down Ireland by 9 wickets after a clinical show from batters and spinners

Hobart [Australia], October 23 (ANI): A dominant batting display from Sri Lanka’s top-order batters helped them seal a clinical nine-wicket over Ireland in the Super-12 encounter at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart on Sunday.
Starting the chase, Sri Lanka openers Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva got the team off to a flier, helping the team reach the fifty-run mark within the powerplay. Both the batters looked to be aggressive from the beginning, taking apart the Irish bowlers.
Dhananjaya was impressive after being promoted to the top of the order with Pathum Nissanka ruled out of the match due to an injury.
The batter made a valuable contribution of 35 runs, smashing 2 boundaries and a six in his inning before being dismissed by Gareth Delany in the ninth over.
Charith Asalanka walked in at number three and unleashed a flurry of strokes from the moment he walked onto the crease. Mendis was already dispatching boundaries for fun and found an equally aggressive partner in Asalanka.
Both the batters then toyed with the Irish bowlers to finish the chase, with five overs to spare. the pair added 70 runs in just 40 balls to take their side over the line comfortably.
Gareth Delany was the only bowler to pick up a wicket giving away 28 runs in his four overs.
Earlier, Sri Lanka’s clinical bowling restricted Ireland to a paltry total of 128/8 at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The Sri Lankan bowlers kept things tight and picked wickets at regular intervals not allowing the Irish innings to flourish, and restricting them to a below-par total. Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga picked up two wickets each.
Opting to bat first, Irish openers Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie could not replicate their batting partnership from the previous match as Lahiru Kumara bowled Balbirnie in the second over of the match to draw first blood.
Lorcan Tucker walked in at number three but could not make a mark as Maheesh Theekshana dismissed him in the fifth over sending Ireland into trouble. Stirling broke the shackles to get 14 runs off the sixth over with Ireland ending with 40/2 at the end of the powerplay.
Just when it looked that Stirling had found his footing to play a good knock again the batter was sent back by Dhananjaya de Silva to further deepen troubles for the Irish.
Curtis Campher came to the crease with a lot of hopes riding on him since he played a superb knock against Scotland but did not trouble the Sri Lankans as he was dismissed by Chamika Karunaratne cheaply in the 10th over, leaving Ireland tottering at 60/4 at the end of 10 overs.
Harry Tector tried to steady the inning and kept the scoreboard ticking with some glorious shots every now and then. He took Ireland past 100 in the 15th over.
Ireland could only manage 28 runs off the last five overs after Tector perished in the quest to up the run rate.
No Irish lower-order batter could give momentum to the innings as they finished with 128 runs on the board. Theekshana was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers having secured two wickets for 19 runs.
Brief Score: Sri Lanka 133/1 (Kusal Mendis 68*, Charith Asalanka 31*; Gareth Delany 1/28) vs Ireland 128/8 (Harry Tector 45, Stirling 34; M Theekshana 2/19) (ANI)