Martin Guptill’s blistering 76-ball 116 handed New Zealand a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Playing their final warm-up match before their Champions Trophy opener against South Africa, Sri Lanka were asked to bat by New Zealand.
It looked a good toss to lose as the Sri Lankans sped to the three-figure mark inside 15 overs, thanks in large part to Upul Tharanga (110) and Niroshan Dickwella (25), who put on 65 for the first wicket in eight overs before Dickwella fell to Tim Southee.
The loss of Dickwella did little to slow Sri Lanka’s pace as Kusal Mendis struck a 50-ball 57. Together he and Tharanga passed the 150-run mark inside 23 overs.
The pair added 98 runs to the total, before Mendis was run out by Trent Boult at the end of the 24th over for 57 (seven fours, one six).
Despite the fall of Mendis, there was no respite as Dinesh Chandimall contributed (55) and Tharanga continued to pile on the runs.
Even after Tharanga’s eventual dismissal, some lower-order cameos from Kusal Perera (38) and Seekkuge Prassana (23) helped Sri Lanka post a seemingly competitive 356-8.
In reply, New Zealand got off to a solid start as Martin Guptill (116) and Tom Latham (44) scored 78 after 13 overs.
The dismissal of Latham proved a blessing in disguise, as this brought Kane Williamson to the crease. Williamson and Guptill proceeded to smash Sri Lanka’s attack to all parts of the ground, resulting in the addition of 157 runs off just 16 overs.
When Guptill departed for a 76-ball 116 that featured no fewer than ten fours and five sixes, the Black Caps required 125 off the remaining 20 overs.
In the end, New Zealand’s batsmen did it comfortably, and a convincing victory was capped off with a six by Corey Anderson with 23 balls to spare.
Elsewhere, India took on Bangladesh in what proved to be a rather one-sided contest. After being in early trouble at 21-2, Dinesh Karthik (94) and Shikhar Dhawan (60) added 100 for the third wicket to steady the innings.
Kedar Jadhav (31) and a quick-fire 54-ball 80 from Hardik Pandya (six fours, four sixes) further strengthened the Indian position. Ravindra Jadeja added a further 31 runs late in the innings to allow the defending champions to post 324-7.
Bangladesh’s reply took on an alarming resemblance to England’s batting collapse against the Proteas as they found themselves 11-3 and then 22-6 inside eight overs. At this point their chase was all but over as they crumbled to 84 all out, thus handing India victory by 240 runs.
