T20 World Cup 2022 grabbed a tremendous amount of attention from the fans. There is fantastic competition between the sides. According to cricketing experts, it is the best World Cup considering the standards of the game of cricket. It is the T20 World Cup where the two times World Champion West Indies was eliminated from the event in the first round. It is the World Cup where Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan to dent their chances of qualification. On the other hand, Ireland defeated England to cause a huge upset for the Lions. England vs Sri Lanka was a huge fixture considering the context of the T20 World Cup. Australia was all set to qualify for the semi-final if Sri Lanka wins against England in the T20 World Cup 2022 contest. On the other hand, the victory of England means the elimination of Australia. This is why this game held great status.
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If we talk about the team strengths of both sides we jump to the match result, Sri Lanka and England have players who demonstrate spectacular potential on the crease. Sri Lanka is a side that ruled the occasion of the Asia Cup which is one of the biggest events in cricket defeating the likes of India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in the event. Furthermore, England is no less. The side surely has a huge variety and all of the team is capable of batting well on the crease. Keeping in mind all these perspectives, it was just a worth-watching contest for cricket fans. Fans were awaiting the game. There was no way England was not targeting qualification in the semi-finals. The Lions wanted to end the tournament on a high note.
Sri Lanka vs England T20 World Cup 2022: First Innings
According to ESPN, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first against England in the important contest. The opening pair of Sri Lanka is capable of posting a great total on the board in the powerplay. During the powerplay overs, the teams target to post a final total on the board to trouble other sides. If a team plays the powerplay overs well, they could easily score a great total on the board. On the second delivery of the first over, Nissanka scored the six against Ben Stokes on the second ball of the over. It was a wonderful shot undoubtedly and he played the first over amazingly well. Sri Lanka scored 9 runs in the first over to take a fine start.
Mark Wood, who is one of the fastest bowlers in the T20 World Cup 2022, came to bowl to demonstrate his impact on the crease. He is a bowler who is capable of delivering fireball balls with an express pace of 150+. The best thing about Wood is that he mixes the extreme pace with great seam and swing. This combination makes a fast bowler challenging to face surely. He has shown his tremendous potential in modern-era cricket. Now the occasion of the mega event demands a phenomenal display of bowling. However, the Sri Lankan batsmen just did not care. The openers hit two sixes against the express pace of Wood. It was a wonderful display of batting and Sri Lanka was taking an amazing start. England brought Chris Woakes to the bowling attack.
Finally a Wicket
Chris Woakes finally produced the wicket to break the momentum of the Sri Lankan batsmen on the crease. Keeping the context of the powerplay overs, it was a huge wicket. Mendis returned to the pavilion. Undoubtedly, Sri Lanka felt bad and the wicket meant England is back in the game. But Nissanka was not just stopping. Sam Curran was given the ball. He moves the ball amazingly well to trouble the batsmen on the crease. The way he bowls the varieties is just astonishing. He is among one the inspiration of young cricketers in cricket. Nissanka smashed him for two consecutive boundaries. The man was not just stopping on the crease. After the end of 5 overs, Sri Lanka scored 52 runs on the board. Losing one wicket is not a problem in T20 cricket as far as the run rate is fine.
Phenomenal Batting By Nissanka and Two Wickets Lost
England gave the ball to Liam Livingstone who is a part-timer and is capable of taking wickets that break the partnerships. But Nissanka smashed him for a sixer. England needed the wicket of this batsman in the England vs Sri Lanka T20 World Cup as early as possible because of the huge damage he was causing. The cover of Adil Rashid in the T20I cricket always creates an amazing impact. He does not allow the easy flow of runs. As the Sri Lankan batsmen did not score any boundary in his over, there is room for building pressure. In the next over of Sam Curran, Dhananjaya lost his wicket. Another wicket was a huge blow for the Sri Lankan side.
While playing aggressive cricket in T20I cricket is significant, it is always important that you also keep the wickets in hand if you want to have the bonus in your pocket. As soon as the wickets started falling for Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup 2022 contest vs England, there were just too many problems for the Sri Lankan side.
Wonderful Performance By Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes came to bowl in the huge contest. Stokes is the kind of player who provides tremendous impact on the crease with his all-around performance. The occasion of the T20 World Cup is huge for any cricketer to showcase his potential. Ben Stokes is a player who performed terrifically well in the ODI World Cup final and helped his team in winning the final. He produced a wicket at the right time. Asalanka returned to the pavilion, courtesy of the delivery of Stokes.
Nissanka needed to be on the crease until the end. He was playing a composed kind of innings on the crease. For Sri Lanka to post a reasonable total on the board, it required Nissanka to showcase his potential. He celebrated his fifty which was his 9th T20 International fifty. It was a huge fifty since it came on the occasion of the T20 World Cup 2022.
The Duo of Rajapaksa and Nissanka
Sri Lanka not just needed to build the innings but they needed to score with great pace. Rajapaksa is a phenomenal cricketer of the T20I format. Sri Lanka started building the partnership and hit boundaries to demonstrate their command on the crease. The death overs were approaching and Sri Lanka needed to hit the deliveries hard to score a great total on the board. In the over of Adil Rashid, Sri Lanka lost the plot.
It was the most important wicket of Nissanka which fell at the wrong time. With the wicket of Nissanka, the flow of runs stopped. There were just no boundaries when they lost the wicket. On one occasion Sri Lanka was cruising but they started troubling. After losing too many wickets in the death overs and completely losing momentum in the T20 World Cup 2022 contest, Sri Lanka could only post a total of 141 runs on the board. It is a low total considering the standards of modern-era cricket.
Sri Lanka vs England T20 World Cup: Second Innings
England has the services of the wonderful opening pair who could demonstrate their astonishing command of the crease. The way openers batted in the powerplay overs was just phenomenal. It was the affair of boundary after boundary for the England side. Hales and Buttler were smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers all around the park. They were not just scoring boundaries at a slow pace, but they were scoring boundaries continuously. England was doing extreme damage against the Sri Lanka bowlers. As time did progress. England reached a total of 50 runs on the board after the end of 5 overs. England was batting extremely well vs Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup contest.
In the over of Rajitha, the English batsmen scored 20 runs. It just meant that the English batsmen ended the powerplay on 70 runs without losing any wickets. This is a huge score in the powerplay in the game of cricket. When the teams demonstrate that kind of command in modern-era cricket, they could provide a shock with an amazing cricket display. This was what just England was doing. Sri Lanka was encountering a huge mess with the T20 World Cup elimination. On the other hand, England was smashing hard in their final game which could leave an impact on their mindset. Hasaranga provided the most important breakthrough of Jos Buttler.
The Damage Was Done
However, the damage was done and the English captain batted spectacularly well on the crease. England just needed to bat and run a ball against Sri Lanka to win the contest. This was achievable by just playing the Sri Lankan spinners carefully on the crease. It is never an easy approach to score the boundary in every over of the spin. Especially, when you are the dominating side, you would expect to just hold on and build the innings slowly. Sri Lanka took two wickets in two overs following the departure of Jos Buttler. Sri Lanka was trying their best in-game vs England during the T20 World Cup 2022 contest. England required just 49 runs vs Sri Lanka to win the T20 World Cup contest. The task is really easy to obtain in the modern era of cricket.
The runs were coming at a slow pace. In contrast to the powerplay when England was hitting continuous boundaries, the runs flow did stop and England was not scoring the runs with the troubling pace. England lost the wicket of Livingstone which gave them a huge scare. It was wicket after wicket for Sri Lanka with Moeen Ali also departing to the pavilion. England lost six wickets but composed batting by Stokes guided them to the four wickets victory. England qualified for the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022. The favorite of the tournament and the host Australia was eliminated. It was a huge victory for England. Do you want to find out the information regarding the T20 Word Cup 2022? Which player has scored the most runs? If yes, then you could go to the best online cricket sportsbook sites in Australia to find out the numbers.
