Bennett fifty, Raza blitz power Zimbabwe in thrilling win over Sri Lanka

Sikandar Raza spoke of chasing more glory after securing Super Eights qualification and walked the talk on Thursday as his cameo (45 off 26) in chase silenced the Colombo crowd and sullied Sri Lanka's otherwise perfect group stage run. Both teams had already qualified heading into this fixture but had an opportunity to fine tune and shape up before the Super Eights where fixtures and top oppositions will come thick and fast. Sri Lanka would've thought they had enough on a sluggish Colombo surface with 178/7, until Raza turned up and flipped the script in a manic five-over period.

First about Raza's heroics. He entered the middle with the partisan crowd in full voice and his team in a dicey situation (98/2 in the 12th over) - a familiar terrain for him. With 65 to get from 36, Sri Lanka were still marginally ahead, but Raza violently changed that. He smashed a leg-side hit-me ball from Dushan Hemantha for a six over deep midwicket, tonked a full one outside off straight down the ground for another and wrapped up the over with a four through cover point to dwarf the equation.

Maheesh Theekshana returned with 45 to defend off 30, and Raza made it 33 off 24 as he whacked a six over long on and scythed one hit past backward point. As the evening skies changed colour, so did the game as Raza welcomed Dilshan Madushanka with another six and Bennett, who became the first Zimbabwean to hit back-to-back half-centuries in T20 World cups, added a four in the 14-run over.

Wellalage bowled an excellent 18th over with six singles, and Hemantha had Raza caught at cover at the start of the 19th. Sri Lanka bounced back through an incredible catch from Shanaka, who ran back 25 metres from mid-on and nearly collided with an oncoming Wellalage, but dived and held on to dismiss catch to dismiss Tashinga Musekiwa. The chase moved to the final over with Zimbabwe needing 8 off 6 and Sri Lanka fancying their chances. But Tony Munyonga slog swept Theekshana for a six, and Bennett added the finishing touches to complete the incredible turnaround.

Sri Lanka had very little to complain about until this passage of play. Pathum Nissanka extended his purple patch as he dominated the PowerPlay after Shanaka chose to bat first. He scored 34 of the 61 that Sri Lanka managed in that period, despite losing Kusal Perera to Blessing Muzarabani in the fifth over. Though the pacer struck, Raza could see early that the surface sided with the slower bowlers and unleashed 13 overs of spin through a quartet of himself, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer and Ryan Burl. This combination managed to tie down Nissanka to an extent, even as he reached a 35-ball half-century. Yet, the pull back from Zimbabwe was evident as Sri Lanka reached 86/1 at the halfway stage.

The second-wicket pair of Nissanka and Kusal Mendis pushed the team past 100 but Burl and Cremer dismissed both in the 13th and 14th over respectively. Sri Lanka went to the death overs on 122/3, and in need of some late impetus. Crucially, Pavan Rathnayake provided it as he smashed a 25-ball 44, with three fours and two sixes. Thirty four of those came in the last five overs as Sri Lanka added 56 in that phase despite losing four wickets. Raza conceded 15 in the 17th over, Brad Evans went for 16 in the 19th and Muzarabani was hit for 14 in the 20th to push Sri Lanka to 178/7. The final-over assault came from Dunith Wellalage as he finished on a crucial eight-ball 15.

Sri Lanka's bare PowerPlay returns with the ball in this tournament (just four wickets) didn't improve as Zimbabwe openers Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani were up for the fight that was expected in chase. Like Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka too introduced a spinner early in Theekshana but Marumani hit two fours off him in a nine-run over. Shanaka persisted with him and paid the price as the Zimbabwe openers collected 15 off his next over to finish the PowerPlay on 55/0.

They carried on until the ninth over when Wellalage extended his impact on the game by dismissing Marumani - caught and bowled off a tossed up delivery. Burl walked out with the intent to throw Sri Lanka off course. He went after the wicket-taker in the 11th over but was undone by a bouncer from Shanaka in the 12th.

Burl couldn't control his pull shot and ended up top-edging to short fine leg. Wellalage bowled an excellent over worth two runs to ramp up the pressure, leaving Zimbabwe to chase 78 off 42. Shanaka tried to pile on with his change of pace but Bennett scored a four in a 11-run over that retained the chase on an even keel. Raza then entered the scene and owned it with his blitz.

Brief Scores:Sri Lanka 178/7 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 62, Pavan Rathnayake 44; Graeme Cremer 2-27) lost to Zimbabwe 182/4 in 19.3 overs (Brian Bennett 63*, Sikandar Raza 45, Tony Muyonga 8*) by 6 wickets