SI Cricket Talks
Heart-Stopping Cricket
Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka 2024
Shazeen Ifamy
Zimbabwe’s six (6) match limited overs tour of Sri Lanka was nothing short of heart-stopping as out of the five (5) completed matches, three (3) of them were absolute thrillers. Aside from heart-stopping cricket, each team pushed each other to and beyond their limit. As a result, this series provided us with top-tier cricket throughout the series.
The three (3) match One Day International (ODI) series started with a rained-out match which was rather unfortunate as both teams played really well throughout the match with Charith Asalanka being the standout with a brilliant 100! The second match was a low-scoring thriller in which Sri Lanka crossed the line by the bearest of margin mainly thanks to their low-order batters and a well-composed 95 from Janith Liyanage. The final ODI was a rather one-sided encounter with Sri Lanka bamboozling the Zimbabwe batters on the back of seven (7) wickets by Wanindu Hasaranga on return to bowl Zimbabwe out for 96 and Sri Lanka went on to win the match by eight (8) wickets taking the ODI series 2-0.
The final three (3) match T20 International series gave us back-to-back thrillers to start off as both the first and second matches went down to the last over with Sri Lanka chasing down 14 to win the first match in the last over and Zimbabwe chasing a massive 20 runs in the final over to seal the second T20I. However, the final match of the series and tour didn’t give us a high action end as Sri Lanka on the back of 4 wickets by Wanindu Hasaranga bowled out Zimbabwe for 82 and went on to win the match by 9 wickets to take the series 2-1.
Overall, this tour was a high-action tour in which both teams pushed themselves and their opposition throughout all matches. Moreover, the tour was also played in high spirits and upheld the spirit of cricket all throughout. In conclusion, both teams will take wins and losses from the series with Sri Lanka being the happier team as they’ve gotten an ideal start to their 2024 tough cricket calendar but Zimbabwe can nevertheless hold their head up high as they pushed Sri Lanka throughout the series.
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