West Indies vs Sri Lanka: Oshane Thomas haunts the Lankans in the 1st T20I

Sri Lanka vs West Indies 1st T20 began on a brilliant note for the Caribbean as they defeated the Lankans at their home in the first T20I by 25 runs.

Usually, the T20I format is said to be favoring the batsmen over the bowlers, but Oshane Thomas made the match his own as he scalped 5 wickets of the Lankan side.

The young cricketer was involved in a car crash a few days ago and was rested with minor injuries. The 23-year old pacer made a comeback into the T20 squad with the Sri Lanka tour and returned with a banger. 

West Indies won the toss and decided to bat first. The opening partnership of West indies set up the base for the batting line-up and Brendon King’s wicket at 33 was the first down for Windies at 74.

Sri Lanka vs West Indies 1st T20 Highlights

Lendi Simmons continued his innings and anchored his way to the last. He played the role of the anchor who stirred the innings while other batsmen came in and hit some runs and went. It was a decent play by the West Indies side and essential in the win. 

Sri Lanka’s bowling led by Lasith Malinga looked quite out of order and the bowlers were not able to take quick wickets. With Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews in the team, Sri Lankan bowling attack had quite a bit of mixture but they still failed to grab wickets.

This was a big advantage for the Windies side as they continued to hit the ball. Leaving Pooran aside, every Windies batsman posted a 30+ score in the match.

The T20 series is a fightback for Windies against the Lankans as they lost the ODI series and will look forward to making a comeback by winning the in the T20 format.

Everyone expected Sri Lanka to win as they had been consistent with their form against the Windies but it was the Windies Seniors with Oshane Thomas who wrote the script of the match.

Captain Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell played a pivotal role in this victory with their quickfire shots in the end to frame a big total. 

Lendi Simmons was consistent with his batting and stayed on the crease throughout the match to help the batsmen on the other side strike big. Sri Lankan batting wasn’t as bad as the bowling but the middle-order failed completely and this worked in Windies’ favor.

Kusal Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga batted their way through the Oshane storm and went on to build a good partnership of 87 runs until Rovman Powell got Hasaranga out. 

Kusal Perera followed Hasaranga in the very next over when Andre Russell bowled him. It was an end of Sri Lanka’s batting and with Perera’s wicket, the hope to win the match was over. Now everything depends on the second and last T20I of the series for Sri Lanka because the only thing they can do is to tie the series. Brilliant performances by West Indian players and some weak links in the Sri Lankan team resulted in the loss and things didn’t go the Lankan way. 

Oshane Thomas’ 5-wicket haul

Oshane Thomas was on fire as he returned after missing the ODI series because of some minor injuries. The young bowler not only made his way back to the team but also delivered on it and ended up as the ‘Player of the Match’.

To chase a target of 197, Sri Lanka needed a stable start to build the innings but Thomas wasn’t ready for that. Within the first 6 overs, Sri Lanka was down 5 wickets, all of those scalped by Oshane. 

It was an extraordinary bowling show by the pacer as he dismissed the top and middle-order of Sri Lanka completely within the first six overs. It was not a start the Lankans wanted but it was what Thomas served them on a platter.

His pace received an extra bounce and forced Fernando to top edge the ball to the wicket-keeper. He continued his domination by getting Shehan Jayasuriya and Kusal Mendis in the same over. Angelo Mathews looked quite confident but Thomsan’s delivery dismissed his wicket and along with it sank the fans’ hopes. 

Windies’ batting prowess

West Indies batting line-up was quite powerful and they executed the innings perfectly to post a total as big as 196 on the board.

It was all possible because of a perfect combination of hard-hitting batsmen like Andre Russel and Kieron Pollard, and innings anchor Lendi Simmons.

It was one of the finest innings by Simmons as he layered his way past the Lankan bowling attack and allowed the middle-order batsmen to play quickfire innings.

The West Indian seniors came out to the rescue as they scored some crucial runs to help post a big total. Captain Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell handled the middle-order while Lendi Simmons was responsible for escalating the innings to the end.

It was wonderful to see the West Indian team balance itself while batting and turn out to be victorious because of those 20-25 runs hit in the end. 

Sri Lanka’s middle-order failure

Sri Lanka was not able to control the Windies’ batting side and their bowlers struggled against the big shots. The batting side was not in a good form either as Oshane Thomas dismissed five of the batsmen in just the first six overs and it was not a good start for the Lankans.

Kusal Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga went on to create a good partnership of 87 runs to hold the innings before Hasaranga got out for 44 runs. Hasarannga continued his good form with the bat after the ODI series and this might be good news for Sri Lanka.

Kusal Perera is a sheer class with the bat but the team can not depend on just one batsman. Except for Perera and Hasaranga, the batsmen failed miserably, especially the middle-order. The middle-order gave up to Thomas and fell one after another like the leaves in the autumn.

What do you think, who will win the Sri Lanka vs West Indies T20 Series? Let us know in the comments down below.