The 4th day of the first Test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand totally belonged to the Sri Lankan batters, and their excellent passage of play with the ball will surely boost their morale more on the 5th day as well. Earlier in the day, Angelo Mathews smashed a brilliant century, scoring 115 runs which included 11 fours and also stitched a beautiful 105-run partnership with Dinesh Chandimal.
Mathews also found good support from the lower middle order as the visitors managed to set a more than competitive target of 285 runs for the Kiwis. The home side were jolted by the absence of Neil Wagner to injury and with Matt Henry not fully fit, due to which, their bowling unit looked pretty average in the second innings. That said, take nothing away from the Lankans who have been clinical not only today but in this entire Test match so far, but they’d have loved another 30-40 runs for sure but this is still a strong total.
Brilliant start by the Sri Lankan bowlers
While talking about the final innings, all of the Lankan pacers bowled brilliantly in the brief period of play that was possible and Kasun Rajitha picked the only wicket to fall, that of Devon Conway. However, later, both Tom Latham and Kane Williamson endured some high-quality seam bowling, and somehow hung in there but it is still a long way to go and this is definitely going to be a very tricky run chase as they still need 257 runs on Day 5.
Meanwhile, the match is very important for both Sri Lanka and India as only one of them will get a spot in the Test championship final in June. The only way by which the Lankan team can qualify is to win both matches of the series but if the if they lose or the match end up in a draw then the Indian team will automatically qualify.
However, if the Men in Blue win the last match of the Border Gavaskar series against Australia, then they won’t have to depend on Sri Lanka vs New Zealand result. As of now, the match is heading towards a draw which will also benefit the Indian team.
Here’s how fans reacted:
#NZvSL pic.twitter.com/XHJfuhJ4zu
— Oggy 💙 (@SirOggyBilla) March 12, 2023
Common kiwis ✌
— Braj Chhora (@ChhoraBraj) March 12, 2023
Vah Nahin banaenge unko India ko out karna hai
— Sarthak Tripathi (@Tsarthak_26) March 12, 2023
Agressive batting karna padega newzealand ko 🥲
— ._. (@Candy_beakhyun) March 12, 2023
Kiwis :Hm Bina jeete bhi India ko knock out kar sakte hai 🤠
— James Bond जासूस (@ravi_limbad) March 12, 2023
Rain says Hi on day 5.
— Sameer (@sameerdhiman37) March 12, 2023
Easy win for Kiwis
— Saurabh (@Saurabh29447298) March 12, 2023
wtc finale k liye kuch v karega ✊️ pic.twitter.com/4xRCXAvUwc
— nirvana ● (@rider_nirvana) March 12, 2023
