T20 World Cup: Three things that stood out in Namibia's win over Sri Lanka

Namibia stunned the Asia Cup champions, Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the opening match of the T20 World Cup 2022 that got underway in Australia on Sunday (October 16).

Invited to bat first, Namibia scored 163/7, with Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit contributing 44 and 31* respectively. Pramod Madhushan was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka with figures of 2/37

In reply, the Lankans were skittled out for 108 in 19 overs. Dasun Shanaka and Bhanuka Rasapaksa hit 29 and 20 respectively, while David Wiese and Bernard Scholtz took two wickets each for Namibia.

On that note, we will take a look at three factors that stood out in the match:

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#1 Namibia put up a formidable total thanks to a late surge

Namibia struggled from the beginning on a pitch that had a tinge of grass on it but was on the slower side. The ball did not come on to the bat very nicely and the Namibians kept losing wickets at regular intervals while going for the shots.

Stephen Baard (26) and Gerhard Erasmus (20) put on 41 for the fourth wicket to take the score to 76, but Namibia were again restricted to 93/6 in the 15th over with Wiese departing. It was then that Frylinck and JJ Smit came together and gave the Namibian innings a much-needed thrust.

The two added 70 runs in less than six overs, with Frylinck being run out on the last delivery of the innings. Both Frylinck (44) and Smit (31*) hit some lusty shots to clear the ropes repeatedly. Smit selected Pramod for some special treatment as the latter kept bowling too many leg-cutters which got picked up by the former.

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#2 Sri Lanka were left reeling early in their innings

Sri Lanka started their chase on a shaky note by losing a few early wickets. Kusal Mendis (6) departed first while trying to pull Wiese and getting holed out to Zane Green. Ben Shikongo then got wickets off successive deliveries to send back Pathum Nissanka (9) and Danushka Gunathilaka (0) using the seam movement on offer.

Dhananjaya De Silva and Bhanuka Rajapksa got together to add 19 runs for the fourth wicket, before Dhananjaya fell to Frylinck. Rajapaksa and Shanaka then added 34 for the fifth wicket with both the batters punishing anything short bowled at them by the Namibian pacers. As the surface slowed, the batters had enough time to fall back on their back foot and punish the short deliveries.

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#3 The Lankan batters kept falling by going for big shots

At 74/4 in the 11th over, Sri Lanka looked to have a chance of chasing down the total, but Scholtz had other ideas. On a slow pitch, Rajapaksa tried to charge down and go for a big shot through the leg side, but Scholtz saw him come out and pitched the ball short. As a result, the Lankan could not connect the ball properly and was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Divan la Cock.

Scholtz got Wanindu Hasaranga in his subsequent over, while Fylinck got better of skipper Shanaka. What followed was a procession of wickets, with the batters struggling to clear the rope on a slow wicket and getting caught on the boundary lines. However, they had no other option either as the required run-rate was already creeping up.