Kusal Mendis with his Player of the Match award after scoring a career best 79

• Finish on top of Group A 
• Kusal Mendis comes to the party with career best knock

The Sri Lankan T20I team is not a one-man show, nor do they rely on two or three individuals to rack up a win. It is made up of several match winners who on their day turn up with a performance that brings victory to the side. On Tuesday it was Pathum Nissanka who played the match-winning knock that enabled Sri Lanka to bounce back from their shock defeat against Namibia and trounce the UAE by 79 runs.

Yesterday it was the turn of Nissanka’s opening partner Kusal Mendis who put his hand up to play a crucial innings and set up Sri Lanka’s 16-run win over Netherlands, which guaranteed them a place in the next stage of the T20 World Cup – the Super12s.

Sri Lanka, the Asia Cup champions in fact started the World Cup with a loss but managed to finish on top of Group A following UAE’s upset win over Namibia in the second match played yesterday. This meant that Netherlands despite their loss to Sri Lanka will also go through to the Super12.

It was a decisive game for both teams. Netherlands came to yesterday’s match on the back of two consecutive wins over UAE and Namibia and had to win their third and final match against Sri Lanka to be assured of a place in the Super12s. For Sri Lanka, it was a must win game if they were to survive in the World Cup.

Sri Lanka, as they had done in the Asia Cup after their stunning reversal against Afghanistan, lifted their game to another level to win this vital match and take their place with the big names in the competition.

Mendis set the tone for the Lankan innings of 162-6 with a fabulous knock of 79 off 44 balls that helped Sri Lanka to overcome a slow start and set up a healthy target. It equalled his innings of 79 against New Zealand at Pallekele in 2019. Although on that occasion it was in a losing cause, yesterday’s innings was one of composure as he struck five sixes, reaching his fifty off one of them over mid-wicket and as many fours.

Sri Lanka played out the first power play without losing a wicket to score 36 at a run a ball but lost back-to-back wickets in the seventh over when Paul van Meekeren cleaned up Nissanka with a full yorker on off-stump and off the next delivery had Dhananjaya de Silva lbw for a duck - a decision which the batsman did not review for the replays showed the ball would have missed leg stump. It was a poor judgement on the part of the batsman not to review.

Nevertheless, it gave Charith Asalanka an opportunity to somewhat rediscover his lost form. He displayed glimpses of it with a pleasing innings of 31 off 30 balls helping Mendis add 60 off 45 balls for the third wicket. Mendis who won the Player of the Match award eventually fell in the final over at 157, but by then Sri Lanka had a decent total to defend.

Mendis who took time to adjust to the Australian pitches said: “The first game I didn't know how to play the on the pitch because it was really slow. After the first match, I know how to play here. The wicket was a bit slow, so I took time to adjust to the bounce and the pace. The first six overs I played my normal game. Then after the six overs I managed find my touch and timing. That's the reason.”

Netherlands found themselves losing wickets regularly in their run chase and were unable to put together any noteworthy partnerships that would have challenged the target of 163. At one stage they were 100-4 but lost four wickets in quick succession for nine runs to be 109-8 as the Lankan spinners tightened the screws on them with the Wanindu Hasaranga doing the main damage with three wickets. 

At that stage it looked like Sri Lanka would wrap up the Netherland innings, but like it happened in their game against Namibia, the seamers leaked runs at the death conceding 37 off the final three overs so that Netherlands ended up scoring 146-9.

This is an area of concern for Sri Lanka going into the Super12. The absence of Dushmantha Chameera, Promod Madushan and Dilshan Madushanka is a huge loss with no other bowlers to replace them. If the Dutch can hammer the Lankan bowlers as they did especially opener Max O’Dowd who played a splendid innings of 71* off 53 balls (6 fours, 3 sixes), Sri Lanka are in for big trouble when they come up against the more established teams, unless they find a quick solution.

Gunathilaka joins Lanka’s growing list of injuries