Trent Boult claimed figures of 3/37 in front of 16,500 strong crowd as New Zealand almost booked their spot in the semi finals by beating Sri Lanka by 5 wickets at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
After being asked to bat first, Sri Lanka got off to a poor start by losing Pathum Nissanka (2) to Tim Southee. Trent Boult then claimed wickets of Kusal Mendis (6) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (1) as the Lankans were reduced to 32/3.
Kusal Perera scored brilliant 28 ball-51 before perishing to Lockie Ferguson. Sri Lanka middle and lower order struggled to get going as they slumped to 128/9.
However Maheesh Theekshana (38) along with Dilshan Madushanka (19) shared a valuable 43 run stand for the last wicket to take their side to 171.
Chasing 172, openers Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra got New Zealand off to a quickfire start. The duo added 86 for the opening wicket before the former perished to Dushmantha Chameera for 45.
Maheesh Theekshana then dismissed Rachin Ravindra soon after for 42. The pair of Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell added 42 runs for the third wicket stand before the former dragged a delivery from Angelo Matthews for 14.
Mark Chapman (7) was run out following a horrible mix up with Daryl Mitchell.
In the end, Glenn Phillips and Tom Latham remained unbeaten on 17 and two, as the Black Caps reached the target with 26.4 overs to spare.
New Zealand 172 for 5 (Conway 45, Mitchell 43, Mathews 2-29) beat Sri Lanka 171 (Perera 51, Boult 3-37, Ravindra 2-21) by six wickets