T20 World Cup 2024: SL vs SA – Who said What?

In their opening T20 World Cup match of the tournament, South Africa triumphed over Sri Lanka by six wickets. The Lankan Lions found it difficult to bat from the outset and to continue in the second innings on a surface that was assessed as poor. A below-average match between two of the tournament favourites occurred as a result of the pitches dropping, which was not ideal for the hitters.

Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga chose to bat first after winning the toss, but that choice quickly became a nightmare. The “host” squad was plagued by the pacers from South Africa, who only scored 24 runs during the powerplay. It appeared very hard to get runs because wickets were falling whenever Sri Lanka attempted to get away. Their demise was caused by their intention, which was present.

Sri Lanka didn’t realise that sticking to singles and doubles was the best strategy. Anrich Nortje was excellent with the ball; in his four overs, he conceded just seven runs and claimed four wickets. Sri Lanka managed just 77 runs, their lowest total in T20 World Cup International history, with two wickets each from Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada.

South Africa was also uncomfortable when it came to the chase. Though they had difficulty, Sri Lankan players were unable to profit. After the tenth over, captain Hasaranga entered the attack, and Maheesh Theekshana bowled just one over. Hasaranga and the team management made a perplexing move that on the surface would have benefited them. David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen persevered until the very end and completed the work.

Also read: Shai Hope hopes West Indies dominate the World Cup at home

1. What’s going on on the surface?

Legendary analyst Harsha Bhogle stated during the match that it is unlikely that the US cricket scene can flourish due to the current circumstances. From an objective standpoint, both teams were good enough to play a better match, but the surface was never helpful. It was rather sluggish and produced a low-scoring performance. This season, New York will host a number of important matches; if things keep going this way, the fans might get bored.

2. The dubious strategies used by Sri Lanka

It made no sense to not introduce Theekshana and Hasaranga early on. Though they had the option, the team decided against applying pressure to South Africa. Perhaps it is why Sri Lanka lost the match. They rushed a little at one point, even with the bat, which may have been disregarded. The outcome might have been different if the squad had concentrated on singles or doubles and scored about 100.

3. The charm of Anrich Nortje

In his four overs, Nortje conceded just seven runs. Nortje vs Sri Lanka managed to pull off an almost unbelievable stat. Additionally, he took four wickets in New York, completely ruining Sri Lanka’s batting.

Losing captain Wanindu Hasaranga said:

Our batters tried for 160-170. To be honest this was a 120 wicket especially with our bowlers. We went with our strength – our bowling, that’s why we batted first. We wanted to put a score and then defend. This is early in the tournament and we have three more games, we want to do much better, especially with our batting talent. If our batting does well, we can finish well.

Winning captain Aiden Markram said:

Happy with the win. The batting was little up and down, probably speaks to quite a tough wicket and luckily we found ways to score on this. It was a tough one from a batting point of view, we try as much as we can to take the pitch out of it, we can take some learnings from it and we are experienced.

Lots of different conditions as we move around, fortunately we have our next two here so we know what’s coming but it’s important to adapt as we go ahead. [on Nortje] Was not worried about him but a fantastic day for him, from a mental confidence point of view. He is massively loved in the changeroom, boys are incredibly happy and proud of him, hopefully this kicks off a great World Cup for him.

POTM Anrich Nortje said:

Definitely, this will get some momentum going. Tough few days, we’ve worked hard and it’s nice to get some momentum. Very happy, I’ve been feeling good from the last few games, finally great to have a good game and get a few wickets. The guys did well to restrict them to a low score. Been a while since I got many wickets and was happy to be helpful in the team’s win.

We needed to assess as quickly as possible (on the conditions), it was up and down at times (on the wicket), I needed to hit my straps, hit the wicket hard, it was important that we got some early wickets. It was a tough one, practicing on these drop-in wickets is hard, we weren’t able to bowl on the pitch on the pre-match day, the plans were simple, that helped me, I just need to get my rhythm better in the next few games.