Sri Lanka pull off record chase to beat Zimbabwe

New Delhi: The Sri Lankan cricket team finally took a sigh of relief as they put up a record highest chase to defeat Zimbabwe in the one off test match at Colombo by 4 wickets on Tuesday

 Niroshan Dickwella [81] and man of the match Asela Gunaratne[80*] put up a 121 runs for the 6th  wicket to ensure that Zimbabwe didn’t put up another underdog moment in the cricket history following the 3-2 historic win in the ODI series.

For Zimbabwe, Captain Graeme Cremer was the pick of the bowlers with 4-150 but he wasn’t supported well on the other hand and the result went in the favour of Lankans. This is the highest Test run chase in Sri Lanka and also by Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s veteran left arm spinner Rangana Herath was given the man of the series award for an impressive 11 wickets haul in the game.  

Sri Lanka started day 5 at 170-3 with Kusal Mendis standing firm on the crease at 60* but skipper Cremer took 2 early wickets dismissing Mendis and Angelo Mathews, taking the Lankan side on the verge of yet another home defeat embarrassment. But then Dickwella and Gunaratne put up a firm stand for the 6th  wicket displaying the quality that was missing from the Lankan side during the course of the ODI series.

Controversy however again found its way back to the Emerald Isle when Dickwella was stumped by keeper Regis Chakabva but was given not out by the third umpire who took plenty of time while making the all important decision. The replay showed that not an inch of Dickwella’s left foot was behind the line while Chakabva had dislodged the bails. Dickwella was on 37 when the incident took place and went on to score 80 which was the potentially game turning event for both the teams.

 Dickwella was finally dismissed by Sean Williams when Sri Lanka needed 63 to win. But the demage had already been done and Zimbabwe weren’t able to put the pressure back on the Lankans as Gunaratne then put up a 67 run stand with Dilruwan Perera to confirm a much needed win for an evolving lankan side. The game also marked the beginning of the journey for the new test captain Dinesh Chandimal who started his time as skipper in style.

  "It's been a really good five days, so credit goes to all the players, they stuck to the plans and went there and did their best,” said Chandimal. "It's always tough when you're batting in the fourth innings but I told the team that they should play their normal game and they played some outstanding innings, especially Dickwella and Asela. Of course, it's always challenging as a captain but it's about doing the right things on and off the field. It (series against India) is obviously a tough challenge for us. As a team, everyone does their best, and I hope they will do the same against India."

 The win in test ,match finally gives Sri Lanka a much needed boost before the all important fully fledged series against India with the first of 3 test starting on 26 July.