(ICC) - Karthik Meiyappan made history against Sri Lanka on Tuesday when he became the first player to claim a hat-trick for UAE in T20Is. It was also the first hat-trick of the tournament in the First Round at Kardinia Park in Geelong.
Sri Lanka were cruising along when Meiyappan came into the bowl the 15th over, with Pathum Nissanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa at the crease. The over turned the game on its head as it triggered a middle-order collapse, putting the pressure back on Sri Lanka.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa's attempt to go inside-out saw him hole out in the deep to Kashif Daud. Charith Asalanka departed for a golden duck as he nicked the ball to Vriitya Aravind.
Facing the hat-trick ball, Dasun Shanaka had no answer to the wonderful googly that found the gap between bat and pad and rattled his stumps as Meiyappan wheeled off in celebration.
On either side of the hat-trick, it was Sri Lanka who dominated the game for the most part. The opening partnership worth 42 runs between Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis got the Asia Cup champions off to a great start. Despite the wicket of Mendis in the fifth over, Shanaka's men were the happier side at the end of the Powerplay with over 50 runs.
This was followed by a 50-run stand between Dhananjaya de Silva and Nissanka. The all-rounder was the aggressor between the two, smashing a 21-ball 33 consisting of three fours and a six before a run-out brought his innings to a premature end.
Nissanka, who got to his fifty in the same over as the hat-trick, got a move on and helped Sri Lanka post a competitive total. A blinder from Basil Hameed brought an end to his innings where he scored almost half of Sri Lanka's team total.
Sri Lanka and UAE are in the hunt for their first win of the tournament. Both the team suffered defeats in their respective first games – Namibia pulled off an upset win in the first game of the tournament against the Asia Cup Champions while Netherlands clinched a last-over thriller against UAE.
It's not just about the two points for the Islanders as they have a deficit in the net run rate that they need to overcome against the UAE.
Sri Lanka will now be looking to restrict UAE to a small total to make a jump in the points column as well as the net run rate.
Tamar Amitai, a 25-year-old Israeli tourist who went missing in Uppuveli, Trincomalee, was found safe after a three-day joint search operation today.
The Colombo High Court today (28) sentenced former parliamentarian Hirunika Premachandra to three years of Rigorous Imprisonment over charges of the involvement of an abduction.
In his special statement, President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced that debt restructuring agreements will postpone all bilateral loan payments to foreign countries until 2028. Additionally, Sri Lanka will have until 2043 to repay these loans on concessional terms.
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