Magic in Mirpur

James Richardson
January 18, 2018

Zimbabwe recorded a thrilling win over Sri Lanka in Mirpur in Bangladesh, knocking over their opponents for 278 having set a target of 291.

At one point Sri Lanka seemed to have the chase in the bag but the wicket of Thisara Perera swung things back in Zimbabwe’s favour for a memorable win.

Here we enjoy Zimbabwe’s win in pictures:

A solid start

Hamilton Masakadza and Solomon Mire put on 75 runs for the opening wicket to give Zimbabwe a stable platform to base their innings off of.

A timely knock

Masakadza showed a willingness to innovate in his knock of 73 which came after a barren run for the opener.

Offering a foothold

Zimbabwe would allow Sri Lanka back into the contest when Mire tried to force a pull off Thisara but was caught by Kusal Mendis.

Zimbabwe rebuild

Zimbabwe would lose Craig Ervine soon after Mire but Brendan Taylor would stick around with Masakadza for a while adding 57 for the third wicket.

Maskadza falls

Masakadza was deceived by Asela Gunaratne and caught at mid-off for a well played 73 to leave Zimbabwe 142/3.

Stumps flying

Thisara made a mess of Brendan Taylor’s stumps to put Sri Lanka on top again with Zimbabwe at 169 for 4.

Raza to the rescue

Sikandar Raza and the lower order would however launch a counter that would bring Zimbabwe right back into the contest in Mirpur.

A brace of cameos

Malcolm Waller and Peter Moor produced cameos that helped Raza gets the total towards something defendable.

Jarvis strikes early

Zimbabwe got their defence off to a good start when Kyle Jarvis removed former Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga for 11.

Kusal Perera leads the counter

Sri Lanka opener Kusal Perera crafted a fine knock of 80 to help resurrect their effort after losing two early wickets.

Mazurabani bags the skipper

Blessing Mazurabani was delighted to remove Sri Lanka’s skipper Angelo Mathews who was well set on 42.

Middle-order collapse

When Taylor stumped Gunaratne for 4 Sri Lanka looked to be in real trouble at 194 for 6 having been 132 for 2 at one point.

Thisara wills Sri Lanka into the contest

Thisara continued to show his match qualities playing a quality innings that propelled Sri Lanka to the point where they needed 18 to win off the final three overs.

Chatara holds his nerve

Tasked with bowling the critical 48th over Chatara bounced back from being hit for six by Thisara to bag the lethal finishers wicket and then finish off the contest in the final over with the wicket of Dusmantha Chameera.