ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup: Nissanka’s ton against Zimbabwe seals Sri Lanka’s spot at marquee event

Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka said it was crucial for them to be at the sport’s quadrennial showpiece scheduled to take place in India later this year.

Jul 2, 2023 - 22:30
ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup: Nissanka’s ton against Zimbabwe seals Sri Lanka’s spot at marquee event

Pathum Nissanka’s sublime unbeaten 101 propelled Sri Lanka to a place in this year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India as the 1996 winners trounced hosts Zimbabwe by nine wickets on Sunday.

Sri Lanka had bowled out Zimbabwe for a modest 165 inside 33 overs and Nissanka never gave the hosts a hope of victory with his superb innings lifting Sri Lanka to 169 for one in their Super Six stage match.

Zimbabwe can still qualify if they beat Scotland on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka’s bowlers had performed admirably in skittling the hosts out – man of the match Maheesh Theekshana taking 4-25.

Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka said it was crucial for them to be at the sport’s quadrennial showpiece – another former winner West Indies are missing out for the first time after losing to Scotland on Saturday.

“It was a much-needed thing for Sri Lanka to play on that big stage,” said Shanaka.

“See coming for the qualifiers. It’s always tough but still, if you go through the process...and we knew with the team we’ve got, we were going to qualify for the World Cup.”

The Zimbabweans had been up against it from the start after being put into bat by Shanaka and were left tottering on 30-3 due to a stunning...

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