Sri Lanka has defeated Ireland by 20 runs. In this match played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, the Sri Lankan team, batting first, had scored 163 runs, in response the Irish team could score only 143 runs. The Irish team was also on the way to victory at one time, but dropping many catches while fielding and continuous fall of wickets in the death overs became the reason for its defeat.

There was tight bowling from Ireland, but under the pressure of the death overs, their bowling collapsed and they gave away 68 runs in the last 5 overs. Because of this, Sri Lanka was able to reach a score of more than 160. Meanwhile, Barry McCarthy bowled an over of 11 balls, in which he gave away 19 runs.

Host Sri Lanka showed strength

Sri Lanka is the co-host of the 2026 T20 World Cup tournament and defeated Ireland by 20 runs in their first match of the tournament. Chasing the target of 164 runs, Ireland was in a very strong position at one time. At one time he had scored 105 runs at the loss of 2 wickets and the team was headed towards a big victory.

After this, the Sri Lankan spinners wove such a web that all the remaining 8 wickets of Ireland fell within the next 38 runs. Especially Wanindu Hasaranga and Mahish Teekshana did not give the Irish batsmen a chance to open their hands at all and took three wickets each. Mathisha Pathirana proved to be expensive, but he was also successful in dismissing 2 batsmen.

Earlier, while batting for Sri Lanka, Kamindu Mendis played a brilliant inning of 44 runs in 19 balls, helping Sri Lanka reach the score of 163 runs. Kusam Mendis also remained unbeaten after playing a half-century innings.

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Sri Lanka vs Ireland T20: The associate teams have shown amazing performance so far in the 2026 T20 World Cup. On Sunday, 8 February, the Ireland vs Sri Lanka match was played, in which the Sri Lankan team, batting first, scored 163 runs. When the Sri Lankan team was batting, a strange moment was witnessed where a bowler bowled an 11 ball over in which he hit wides, no balls, fours and sixes and also took 2 wickets.

Everything happened in one over

This incident is of the 19th over of the Sri Lankan innings, in which Barry McCarthy came to bowl for Ireland. McCarthy had given 13 runs on the very first ball of the over. This happened because in the first attempt he no-balled, on which Kamindu Mendis hit a four. The next two attempts were wide, while Mendis hit a six on the first official ball. In this way McCarthy had given 13 runs in one ball.

2 runs came on the second ball, after that again a wide and 2 runs came on the third official ball also. Kamindu Mendis was out after scoring 44 runs on the fourth ball. He dismissed Dasun Shanaka on zero on the very next ball. Shanaka has now become the batsman who has been out on zero the most number of times in T20 cricket. When the turn of the sixth ball came, McCarthy again bowled a wide. The last ball was a dot. In this way, 11 balls were bowled in the entire over, out of which a total of 19 runs were scored.

McCarthy’s full over: 4 (no ball), wide, wide, 6, 2, wide, 2, wicket, wicket, wide, 0

In this match, McCarthy gave 30 runs in 3 overs and also took 2 wickets. Actually, he also got a hat-trick chance in the same over, but he missed taking wickets on 3 consecutive balls.

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Ireland vs Sri Lanka Score: Batting first, Sri Lanka has scored 163 runs. In this match being played in Colombo, there was very poor fielding from Ireland, due to which Sri Lanka managed to score 68 runs in the last 5 overs. Ireland’s fielders dropped more than five catches in this match. Kusal Mendis played a strong half-century for the Sri Lankan team.

In this match, Ireland won the toss and chose to bowl first. Ireland’s bowlers completely dominated the first 15 overs of the innings, as Sri Lanka could score only 95 runs till this stage. Wickets were falling one by one, and it was looking difficult for Sri Lanka to even reach the score of 130-135.

68 runs scored in last 5 overs

In the first 15 overs of the innings, the Sri Lankan team was progressing at a run-rate of around 6. But then Kamindu Mendis created havoc and played a stormy innings of 44 runs in just 19 balls. In this innings he hit 4 fours and 2 sixes. Whereas Kusal Mendis returned unbeaten after scoring 56 runs in 43 balls. In the 17th over, Kusal and Kamindu Mendis together scored 21 runs. In the 19th over, McCarthy bowled 11 balls and gave away a total of 19 runs. Sri Lankan batsmen scored a total of 68 runs in the last 5 overs.

In this match, Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka holds the shameful record of being out on ‘0’ the maximum number of times in T20 cricket. So far, he has been out on ‘zero’ 16 times in T20, which is the highest in the world.

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