ZIM vs SL

That was an amazing game of ODI cricket, certainly a great advertisement of the format and the quality and entertainment it can provide. Sri Lanka come up on the right side of the result and take a 1-0 lead in this short 2-match series. The second and final one will be played at the same venue after a day's gap. Make sure you join us then, for now this is Sourabh Agrawal signing off on behalf of Bidipto Datta and the entire team. Cheers!

Charith Asalanka (Sri Lanka captain): "It was an amazing game of cricket. Fought till the end. At the end, Dilshan was amazing. That is the lineup when we go forward, when we play another all-rounder we can have a lack of batting but our 3 all-rounders can give us bowling. That was impressive (partnership between Liyanage and Kamindu). The top-order set up the base but we were in trouble once I got out, they played really well."

Dilshan Madushanka (Player of the Match, 4/61 in 10 overs): "I was playing after a while, and so, I am more than happy to perform like this! We had a plan as to how to execute the deliveries in the slog overs and gladly, things worked out well!" 

Sean Williams (Zimbabwe captain): "The power play was unbelievable for us, but towards the back-end of our bowling innings we could have been better. The two opening bowlers are just tremendous, the youngsters too must be learning from them! We lost two quick wickets up front which didn't help, but then Ben Curran and I decided to dig in deep. Ben was striking the ball better at the time, and we hung in there. Tony Munyonga's character off the field shows just how well he can handle those tough situations, but they nailed those yorkers really well." 

5:48 PM Local Time, 9:18 PM IST: MATCH SUMMARY

Sri Lanka (298/6) defeat Zimbabwe (291/8) by 7 runs

Pathum Nissanka 76(92) | Dilshan Madushanka 4/62(10)
Sikandar Raza 92(87) | Richard Ngarava 2/34(7.4)

So near yet so far for the hosts, a heart-breaking loss inflicted upon Zimbabwe. They should have been the winners with a couple of overs to go in the match, even with one over left but the man of the moment Dilshan Madushanka produced a final over to remember.

BANG, BANG and BANG off the first three balls as he claimed his first ODI hat-trick becoming the 8th Sri Lankan ever to do so and sealed the game for the visitors then and there.

The top and the tail was where it went horribly wrong for Zimbabwe in the run-chase - 4 runs for 5 wickets in the first and the last over combined of this run chase and you're not winning a 299 chase regardless of how well you play between those too incidents.

Asitha Fernando, it was at the top, with a double-wicket over to start and then Dilshan Madushanka to hit the final nails in the coffin.

Nonetheless though, it was a remarkable effort from Zimbabwe to take this so close and get themselves in a position where they should have been the winners. First up, it was a 118-run partnership for the third wicket between Ben Curran and skipper Sean Williams who scored 70 and 58 respectively.

Both fell in quick succession and at the wrong time as Zimbabwe went from 118/2 to 161/5 inside 7 overs to be in a spot of bother again. Once again though, there was a big rescue act from Zimbabwe's poster boy Sikandar Raza and Tony Munyonga. Both of them stuck it out with their team in trouble and dug deep to build a partnership. They stayed in touch with the required rate and never let it out of sight.

They started hitting the big shots and ran hard too using the big outfield in Harare. The crowd was right behind them and it was all looking like leading towards a win for the home side. But then, Dilshan Madushanka flipped the script and delivered some heroics. Raza was dismissed on 91 as the partnership ended on 128 and the tailenders did not help themselves as they fell to the left-armer. Eventually, Munyonga could not hit the boundaries too with 2 balls remaining and Sri Lanka got home by 7 runs.

49.6 Dilshan Madushanka to Tony Munyonga, SRI LANKA PULL OFF A THRILLING WIN! DILSHAN MADUSHANKA HAS BOWLED A TERRIFIC LAST OVER UNDER PRESSURE! ZIMBABWE WILL FEEL THAT THEY LET THIS ONE SLIP. Full and going across the right-hander. Sliced high up in the air from the heavy swing of the bat. The ball went over mid-off of course, but for only a run. 

49.5 Dilshan Madushanka to Tony Munyonga, MADUSHANKA GETS A DOT BALL IN, AGAIN! Full and slanting across the right-hander. The big swing of the blade through the line ends up as a play and a miss! 

49.4 Dilshan Madushanka to Blessing Muzarabani, full on off-stump. Muzarabani stands deep in the crease, clears the front leg and hoicks along the ground to long-on for a single. 

49.3 Dilshan Madushanka to Richard Ngarava, hat-trick ball, AND THE HAT-TRICK IS COMPLETE! Went length and went straight. Ngarava went for the big shot across the line and missed. The ball did not miss clattering into the stumps though and make a mess of them! 

WOW! The day has turned on its head for Madushanka. He has got another and it is a golden duck for Evans who goes trying to play the same shot that Raza perished on.