Zimbabwe Dominates Sri Lanka in T20I Tri-Series Match
In an exciting display of cricket, Zimbabwe’s captain Sikandar Raza led his team to a convincing 67-run victory over Sri Lanka in the second match of the T20I Tri-Series held at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday, November 22.
Zimbabwe batted first and set a challenging total of 162 runs for 8 wickets in their 20 overs. Key performances came from Brian Bennett, who scored 49 runs off 42 balls, and Raza, who contributed 47 runs off 32 balls.
When it was Sri Lanka’s turn to bat, they struggled against Zimbabwe’s bowling attack, collapsing to just 95 runs in their allotted overs. Dasun Shanaka was the top scorer for Sri Lanka with 34 runs off 25 balls, but apart from him, only Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who managed 11 runs off 18 balls, reached double figures.
Brad Evans shone with the ball for Zimbabwe, taking 3 wickets for just 9 runs in 4 overs. Richard Ngarva also played a key role, picking up 2 wickets for 15 runs.
Raza also contributed with the ball, taking 1 wicket for 23 runs, leading the way for Zimbabwe as they celebrated their third T20I victory over Sri Lanka and their second in 2025. With this win, Zimbabwe recorded their biggest victory margin against a full-member country, and Raza was named Player of the Match for his outstanding all-round performance. This award marked the 19th of his career, placing him just behind Malaysia’s Virandeep Singh, who has 22 awards.
Zimbabwe got off to a shaky start, losing Tadiwanashe Marumani and Brendan Taylor early in the innings. However, Raza and Bennett formed a solid partnership, adding 61 runs for the third wicket before both were dismissed. Despite Sri Lanka’s efforts to restrict Zimbabwe to 162 runs, they struggled in their chase, with their batting lineup faltering. Shanaka’s dismissal in the later overs sealed the fate of the Sri Lankan team.
Following this remarkable victory, Zimbabwe climbed to the top of the points table with 2 points from 2 matches and a net run rate of +1.471. In contrast, Sri Lanka found themselves at the bottom, yet to earn any points, while Pakistan held second place with 2 points as well.
