Dubai [UAE], September 27 (ANI): Sri Lanka’s destructive opener Pathum Nissanka dethroned India’s batting wizard Virat Kohli from the pinnacle of two elusive feats with a flamboyant ton in the final Super Fours fixture at the ongoing Asia Cup in Dubai.
During Sri Lanka’s pursuit of a 203-run target, Nissanka dazzled at the crease while flexing his power-hitting nerve with immaculate timing against India’s brazen pace attack. He went all guns blazing from the get-go and blazed his way to a rollicking fifty, eclipsing Virat from the summit of the list for most 50-plus scores in the T20 Asia Cup.
Along with this, Nissanka dwarfed Virat’s fabled record of the highest run-getter in the history of the T20 Asia Cup. He leapfrogged to the top with 434 runs under his belt in 12 appearances, improving the former Indian skipper’s feat of 429.
In 12 innings, Nissanka has five fifty-plus scores in the T20 Asia Cup, bettering Virat’s tally of 4 in 9 innings. While firing all cylinders, the 27-year-old becomes the fourth Sri Lankan to score a century in each international format, joining Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera and Mahela Jayawardene.
He raised his bat to celebrate a magical ton in 51 deliveries, becoming just the third player to wallop a ton in the T20 Asia Cup, after Hong Kong’s Babar Hayat (122) and India’s Virat (122*)
Nissanka is the second-highest run-getter for Sri Lanka in T20Is after Kusal Perera, garnering 2,211 runs in 74 matches and 73 innings at an average of 32.04, with a strike rate of 126.63, laced with a solitary century and 17 fifties.
His record-shattering exploits came to a bitter end in the final over of the pulsating run chase. With 12 required off the last six deliveries, Nissanka went after Harshit Rana, who had a torrid outing throughout the night, on the first ball. He shovel-flicked the ball but dispatched it straight into the hands of Varun Chakaravarthy to return on 107(58).
His dismissal against the run of play tilted the scales in India’s favour and left both teams inseparable at 205/5 after 40 overs of a captivating dead rubber contest. The game headed to a Super Over, and India outfoxed Sri Lanka to stand triumphant.
While Nissanka revelled in the remarkable record of breezing past Virat, India’s left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav made history in the bowling department. Kuldeep ended Sri Lankan skipper Charith Asalanka’s rustic night on 5(9) and returned with figures of 1/31 to carve his name in history.
With 13 wickets under his belt with a game to go, Kuldeep has enjoyed the best campaign by a bowler in terms of wickets in a T20 Asia Cup edition. He broke UAE’s Amjad Javed’s nine-year-old record of 12. (ANI)
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