Eoin Morgan-led England become the first team to cement their spot in the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final with fourth consecutive win in the group stage. Underdogs Sri Lanka put up an excellent fight with both bat and ball but fell short of the 164-run target by 26 runs as England were brilliant in the field to pull off an unreal catch and a run out.
Game-changing catch
It is often said that catches win matches. The cliché turned out to be true once again as a wonderful relay catch from Jason Roy and substitute fielder Sam Billings got the wicket of a rampant Wanindu Hasaranga. It is a shame that the scorecard will show that the catch was taken by substitute fielder Billings but Roy did the hard work of diving and getting rid of the ball upon impact. The wicket in the 17th over made the equation to win was too tough for the lower order batters to pull off.
Buttler’s record-breaking century
Jos Buttler may have got the record of slowest T20 World Cup century to his name but it helped England post a challenging total of 163/5 on the board. Buttler got to his century off the last ball of the innings. The wicketkeeper-batter took 67 deliveries to reach three figures and become second English batter to score a century in T20 World Cup.
Buttler helped England recover from three early wickets and shared a century-run stand for the fourth wicket. He stayed till the end and ensured England do not lose the plot in the death overs with crucial boundaries in the last over. Later, he showcased his wicketkeeping skills by running out Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka and putting an end to their fightback.
Morgan finally shows up
Captain Morgan finally gets some runs under his belt and at a crucial stage too. England batting struggled for the first time in this tournament but Morgan took his time and did not let the pressure of dot balls get to him. The southpaw had scored just 10 runs from 21 deliveries in the 13th over. He got the much-needed acceleration in the 14th over as Lahiru Kumara gave a freebie by pitching it up. Morgan skipped to the fifth gear and ended up scoring 40 runs from 36 deliveries including one four and three sixes.
Hasaranga’s powerplay move
The right-arm leg-spinner continued his good run in the tournament by getting two early wickets in the powerplay overs. He started off with the wicket of opener Jason Roy by knocking his off stump. In the last over of powerplay he got a dangerous Jonny Bairstow out for a golden duck trapping him in front of the stumps.
