Shimron Hetmyer’s magnificent unbeaten 81 went in vain as West Indies went down to Sri Lanka by 20 runs in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
After being asked to bat first by West Indies, openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera got Sri Lanka off to a solid start. The duo added 42 runs for the opening stand before the latter chipped a Andre Russell slower delivery back to the bowler for 29.
Nissanka along with Charith Asalanka added 91 runs for the second wicket before the former was caught at deep midwicket boundary by Hetmyer off Bravo for a well made 51.
Asalanka was dismissed by Russell in the penultimate over for a 41 ball-68. Dasun Shanaka provided a late flourish towards the end by scoring an unbeaten 25 off 14 balls to take Sri Lanka to a mammoth score of 189/3 in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing 190, Binura Fernando pegged the Windies back with wickets of veteran left hander Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis.
Chamika Karunaratne then got into the act by dismissing Roston Chase, courtesy a brilliant catch at mid wicket by Bhanuka Rajapaksha for 9.
Nicholas Pooran’s breezy knock off 46 ended, as he was caught at long-off by DM de Silva off Dushmantha Chameera.
Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard fell cheaply as West Indies were reduced to 107/6.
Shimron Hetmyer in the end scored a fighting 81* off 54 balls to reduce the margin of defeat, as they ended up with 169/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Charith Asalanka was declared the Man of the Match.