CricSpirit Where The Game Starts
The fourth match of the ICC cricket World 2023 is being played between South Africa and Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley stadium. The match has been an absolute blockbuster so far as it has been raining sixes and fours thanks to some brutal hitting by the batters of the Proteas. Amidst all the brilliant performances with the bat however, one incident which took everyone by surprise was that of Kusal Mendis going all out against the South African bowlers against the odds. The player smashed big hits without any sort of hesitation to give his side some hope in the toughest of situations.
Batting first, South Africa had put on a massive total of 428 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in their 50 overs. Quinton De Kock, Rassie Van Der Dussen and captain Aiden Markam smashed brilliant centuries to help the side get to the total. Chasing a total as big as this, Sri Lanka had the worst possible start to their innings as Pathum Nissanka was dismissed for a duck in the second over.
The side needed some bit of resurgance at this point of time and that’s exactly what they got in the form of Kusal Mendis’ batting who walked in to bat at number 3. The batsman began playing free flowing strokes right from the beginning of his innings. He smashed his first six to Marco Jansen in the fourth over and followed it up with three sixes off Lungi Ngidi’s fifth over.
He didn’t stop there and whacked two more sixes and a four in Marco Jansen’s sixth over. The right hander thus brought up a fantastic fifty off just 25 balls to give his side some hope in the massive run chase. Owing to his fine batting, Sri Lanka have had some sort of respite from the required run rate as they’re edging closer to that 100 mark inside the first powerplay.
