The chief contributor in the Sri Lankan victory was off-spinner Ramesh Mendis, who took 11 wickets in the match.
During the second Innings of West Indies, Mendis took back-to-back wickets to pack the visitors at 132/10 along with his partner-in-crime Lasith Embuldeniya.
Mendis first sent back West Indies captain Krag Brathwaite at the score of 15. Then in the 44th over, he outplayed the Windies batters by three wickets. On the first ball of the over, Mendis dismissed wicketkeeper-batsman Shai hope at 16 off 24. On the very next ball, the off-spinner all-rounder Roston Chase on a duck. Though Mendis missed his hat-trick, but he took another wicket of all-rounder Jason Holder on the last bowl of his over.
Then the office dismissed Veerasammy Permaul to complete his five-wicket haul.
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Coming to the match, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. The host posted a total of 204/10 on board. The openers gave a flying start to the Islanders. Captain Dimuth Karunaratne (42 off 90) and Pathum Nissanka (73 off 148) added 106 runs for the opening wicket. The rest of Sri Lanka’s batting line-up surrendered in front of the Caribbean bowlers. West Indies spinner Permaul took a fifer against the host, whereas spinner Jomel Warrican picked up 4 wickets.
In reply, West Indies were restricted to a total of 253/10. Only skipper Brathwaite made 72 off 185 runs and steadied the ship of the Caribbeans.
In the first innings also, Mendis shined with his bowl and grabbed 6 wickets of the visitors at an economy of 2.00.
In the second innings, Nissanka shined with Willow and scored 66 runs for his team. On the other hand, Dhananjaya de Silva smashed 155 off 262 balls and remained unbeaten till Sri Lanka declared at 345/9.
Chasing a massive target of 296 runs, West Indies were bowled out at 132/10.
Mendis was named ‘Player of the series’ for his extraordinary performance, while Dhananjay was chosen as ‘Player of the Match.’
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