Sangakkara and Jayawardene with a fist pump
On 13 June 2013, England and Sri Lanka faced each other in a crucial Group stage match for a spot in the semi-finals. England had already won a game and were looking forward to another win, as Sri Lanka had this game as a must-win. Kumar Sangakkara starred in this game to help Sri Lanka power to the semi-finals. Let’s take a look back to this classic Champions Trophy clash.
The match between England and Sri Lanka was being played at the Oval, where the visiting team won the toss and, taking a look at the pitch conditions, Angelo Mathews thought it would be great to field first. This decision was taken considering the fact that this ground favours the team’s chasing, as Mathews sent England to bat first.
For England, Alastair Cook and Ian Bell came to open the innings, and the team didn’t get a stable start. Within the powerplay, the opening pair scored just 38 runs, and they needed a boost in the run rate to post a good total. But before that could happen, Shaminda Eranga took the wicket of Ian Bell, as he was dismissed after scoring 20 runs off 37 balls.
Following that, Jonathan Trott had a well-set partnership with Alastair Cook, which was broken by Rangana Herath. Cook got dismissed after scoring 59 runs off 85 balls. At this time, England once again needed a settled duo to help them stabilise the innings, for which Joe Root came down at the crease. Root and Trott showcased a fine batting display, which eventually helped the team reach the score of 200 within 40 overs.
But that was also the time when some serious troubles started to begin for the team, as the partnership between Jonathan Trott and Joe Root was broken by Rangana Herath, as he dismissed Trott for the score of 76 runs off 87 balls. Joe Root held the other end to a great extent, as he went on to score a half-century in just 43 balls with 2 fours.
Things were going fine, but England needed to boost their run rate towards the last few overs. This attempt made the team lose three wickets within two overs. In the 46th over, Joe Root got dismissed by Lasith Malinga after scoring 68 runs off 55 balls, which was followed by the wicket of Eoin Morgan in the same over, who got out after scoring 13 runs off 10 balls.
Ravi Bopara played a cameo towards the end, scoring 33 runs off 13 balls, which helped England to finish their innings at the score of 293 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. For Sri Lanka, Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga, and Rangana Herath took 2 wickets each, helping the team to restrict the English batsmen below 300.
Coming out to chase the target, things didn’t go as planned for the Sri Lankan batters in the beginning. In the third over, Kusal Perera lost his wicket to James Anderson, giving an early scalp to the English bowlers. At this time, when the bowlers looked for consecutive wickets, Kumar Sangakkara came down and he was solely enough to dismantle their bowling attacks.
For the second wicket, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara made a 92-run partnership, before Dilshan lost his wicket to Graeme Swann after scoring 44 runs off 56 balls. But this was surely not enough to stop Sangakkara that day, as he went on to complete his half-century in 59 balls. Sangakkara also received the much-needed support from the other end by Mahela Jayawardene, as both batsmen again unsettled the English bowlers.
Jimmy Anderson got another wicket in this crucial clash, as he dismissed Mahela Jayawardene before he could even reach his half-century. Jayawardene got out after scoring 42 runs off 43 balls, with 3 fours and one six. At this time, the Sri Lankan team just had to finish the match as soon as possible, and Kumar Sangakkara couldn’t do it alone without support from the other end.
For this, Nuwan Kulasekara came at number 5, to help Sangakkara chase down the target as soon as possible. With Kulasekara taking risks for the target, this helped Kumar Sangakkara to complete his century in 111 balls with 8 fours. This innings from Sangakkara showcased his determination to chase down big targets without taking many risks.
Their partnership had started to gain pace, as Sri Lanka reached the 250 runs mark in just 42.4 overs. Following this, Nuwan Kulasekara also completed his half-century in just 30 balls, with 5 fours and 3 sixes. The pair gave a much-needed boost to Sri Lanka to chase down the target as soon as possible.
At last, Kumar Sangakkara smashed a four against Stuart Broad at the start of the 48th over, which helped Sri Lanka to secure a much-needed win and increase their chances of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy. For his magnificent 134 not out, Kumar Sangakkara was also given the Player of the Match award.