Upul Chandana hit a six off the final ball as Sri Lanka survived some early scares to beat Zim-babwe by four wickets in their opening Champions Trophy game on Tuesday.
After bowling Zimbabwe out for 191, the Sri Lankans reached the victory target with four wickets and 37 balls to spare at the Oval. Although it sounded easy, the Zimbabweans had the Sri Lankans in trouble at 10 for two.
"It can always happen when you're chasing a small score like 191," said Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu. "We did lose a couple of wickets early on but we were trying to build up from there."
The Zimbabweans are now eliminated after losses to England and Sri Lanka who meet at the Rose Bowl on Friday to decide who goes through to the semifinal.
"All the big games are coming out now and it's all about winning every outing," Atapattu said. "I hope we put up a better show when we play England."
A sparse crowd at the Oval saw teenager Elton Chigumbura hit 57 as Zimbabwe recovered from 85 for six to score 191.
Chigumbura, aged 18, and 19-year-old Prosper Utseya put on 64 for the eighth wicket as Zimbabwe wound up giving the Sri Lankans a tougher than expected run chase.
It was a spirited fightback by a team which has been weakened by the absence of 15 of its top players in a long running dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. Five of its lineup at the Oval were teenagers.
After its late order heroics with the bat, Zimbabwe struck on the fourth ball of the Sri Lankan innings when Avishka Gunawardene gave a catch to the diving Mark Vermeulen off Tinashe Panyangara.
He went for four with the score on six and it was 10 for two when Sanath Jayasuriya edged to wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu off Douglas Hondo. The veteran of 328 one-day internationals departed for two and Zimbabwe scented an upset victory.
But Saman Jayantha and Atapattu prevented any further damage and took 15 off one over including three boundaries. They moved the score on to 54 for three in the 12th over when Jayantha, having made 39, drove the ball to Dion Ebrahim who took the catch at point.
Atapattu continued to bat conservatively but Kumar Sangakkara maintained a good scoring rate until he was caught by Chigumbura off Vusi Sibanda for 28 and Sri Lanka was 99 for four.
Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene pushed the score closer to the victory target with a fifth wicket stand of 42. Atapattu was out for 43, judged to have edged a catch to Taibu.
At that stage, the Sri Lankans needed 50 runs off 18 overs with five wickets left.
Jayawardene made 28 before he was lbw to Chigumbura and Chandana, 20 not out, and Tillakaratne Dilshan (25) saw Sri Lanka through to the victory.
As well as starring with the bat, Chigumbura was the pick of the Zimbabwean bowlers, taking 3-37. He also held a catch and was voted man of the match.
"I think it was a very good day for me," the 18-year-old said. "I enjoyed it."
Zimbabwe was made to bat first and Nuwan Zoysa captured 3-19 and Farveez Maharoof 3-38.
Beaten by 152 runs by England on Saturday, Zimbabwe appeared headed for another heavy loss when it slumped from 43 for one to 85-6.
Chandana and wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara held five catches between them as the Zimbabweans succumbed to some accurate seam and swing bowling.
RSS