Sri Lanka beat Hong Kong by four wickets, yet nobody in their dressing-room walked away entirely satisfied. Pathum Nissanka’s measured 68 anchored a chase of 150, but a sudden wobble of 4 for 8 dragged the game deep into the 19th over and set hearts racing.
“We felt confident of chasing it because the pitch was looking good,” captain Charith Asalanka said post-match. “Credit goes to them (Hong Kong), they batted really well and we bowled badly in the first three overs.”
Hong Kong’s intent was obvious straightaway. Anshy Rath and Zeeshan Ali plundered 38 in the first four overs, punishing any width and forcing Sri Lanka’s seamers to scramble for plans B and C. One lbw shout against Babar Hayat was waved away; the Sri Lankans declined to review and ball-tracking later showed three reds. Small moments, large consequences.
By the halfway mark, Rath and Nizakat Khan had stitched together 61 and nudged their side to a respectable 149 for 4. On a surface offering neither extravagant turn nor true pace, that total was more than merely competitive—particularly once Hong Kong’s spinners went to work.
Even so, Sri Lanka looked set for a routine finish when Nissanka and Kusal Perera moved the score to 118 for 2 with five overs left. Then the shutters came down. Nissanka was run-out gambling a second, Perera fell lbw trying to slog-sweep the very next ball, and Asalanka dragged a wide one to short third. One over later, Kamindu Mendis found deep midwicket and the equation shrank to 23 required from 17, with four wickets suddenly gone.
“In that moment, I think our heart was in our mouths,” Asalanka admitted. “There are a few areas I am really disappointed about. First three overs when we were bowling and then the 16th over, we lost a couple of wickets and then lost my wicket. In the shorter format, these things can happen but it cannot keep happening consistently. We have to analyse it and improve ourselves.”
Fortunately for Sri Lanka, Wanindu Hasaranga arrived swinging. A quick-fire, risk-laden 20 not out from nine balls—two slog-swept sixes and a bludgeoned four—settled the contest with three balls remaining. Relief trumped jubilation.
Nissanka’s innings deserved the result. He took 35 deliveries for a half-century, happy to rotate while Hong Kong’s off-spinner Ehsan Khan and left-arm orthodox Yasim Murtaza operated in tandem. Whenever the asking rate nudged above eight, he counter-punched: a pull behind square off a slower bouncer, then a pickup over mid-wicket when a hard length ball sat up. Timing, not brute force.
“Over the last two years, I’ve worked on my strike rates,” Nissanka said. The opener started his career as a red-ball accumulator; here, he showed additions to the toolkit without abandoning old habits of staying in.
From a broader angle, the match extends a theme that worries former all-rounder Farveez Maharoof. Speaking on television afterwards he suggested Sri Lanka “played with a fear-of-failure mentality”, an echo of the scratchiness seen during last fortnight’s drawn series against Zimbabwe. The players reject the label, but the numbers—five top-order collapses in seven limited-overs games—do give it weight.
Still, a win is a win. Tournament play rarely gives space for laboratories. Sri Lanka have two days before facing Afghanistan, and the captain knows tidy powerplay bowling will be non-negotiable. “This is not the way we wanted to play,” Asalanka said. “When we are playing these sides, there is always pressure. But we are professionals and as professionals, we have to do much better than this.”
Room for growth, yes; points in the bag, also yes. And if the night ended with a collective exhale rather than a roar, perhaps that is no bad thing.
