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Skipper Kumar Sangakkara completed his maiden World Cup hundred as Sri Lanka powered their way to a morale boosting 112 run victory over New Zealand in their ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup Group ‘A’ fixture worked off under lights at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday.
The elegant left hander hammered a splendid 111 from 128 deliveries inclusive of eleven boundaries and two sixes to help his team reach a formidable 265 for nine wickets from their 50 overs having won the toss and elected to bat first.
New Zealand in reply were bowled out for 153 runs in 35 overs with Muttiah Muralitharn claiming four wickets for 25 runs. In fact the Kiwis were almost down and out even before the 25th over of the innings when they slumped to 102 for 6.
Sangakkara’s innings had a great amount of significance as he reached the three figure mark after more than two and a half years having last reached the three figure mark way back in June 2008 in Bangladesh.
After having played 63 innings without a century Man of the Match Sangakkara eventually chose the right place to make an impact having arrived at the crease at a critical stage of the innings. Sangakkara came into the limelight in his own style and rescued his team with a magnificent century.
Sangakkara anchored the innings quite beautifully while putting on 145 runs for the third wicket along with Mahela Jayawardena who hit a solid 66 from 90 deliveries inclusive of six boundaries.
But it was left for dynamic all rounder Angelo Mathews to put the finishing touches with an unbeaten 41 runs from 35 deliveries with the help of four boundaries following a middle order collapse.
