Karthik Meiyappan made history against Sri Lanka when he became the first player to claim a hat-trick for the UAE in T20Is. It was also the first hat-trick of the T20 World Cup 2022. But his glorious feat went in vain as the UAE lost to Sri Lanka by a big margin of 79 runs on Tuesday in Geelong.
Sri Lanka displayed the strength of their bowling and wrapped up the UAE only for 73 and pulled off a big win. This win will surely help Sri Lanka to come out of the frustration that they got after the first defeat to Namibia.
Pathum Nissanka guided Sri Lanka to 152 for eight when they batted first. Pathum hit 74 off 60 runs while Dhananjaya de Silva posted 33 off 21 deliveries. Kusal Mendis was the only other Sri Lankan batter to reach a double-digit total. He made 18 of 13.
During the 15th over of Sri Lanka’s innings, Meiyappan removed Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka and captain Dasun Shanaka in three consecutive balls to complete the first hat-trick of the tournament.
In reply to Sri Lanka’s 152, the UAE tumbled for 73 in 17.1 overs. None of their batters was able to offer some resistance to Sri Lanka’s bowling line.
Dushmantha Chameera and Wanindu Hasaranga bagged three wickets each conceding 15 and eight runs respectively.
Sri Lanka XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Pramod Madushan, Maheesh Theekshana.
UAE XI: Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, Kashif Daud, Vriitya Aravind, Aryan Lakra, Basil Hameed, Chundangapoyil Rizwan(c), Aayan Afzal Khan, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan.
