CWC Qualifiers: Pathum Nissanka smokes his ninth ODI fifty
Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka was at his best against Scotland in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Nissanka clocked his ninth ODI fifty and his maiden against Scotland. Courtesy of his knock, the Lankans reached a total of 245 as they suffered a lower-order collapse. Here we decode his stats.
A dependable knock from Nissanka
SL have had decent starts in this tournament till now, but against Scotland, they lost two early wickets. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis departed early, but Nissanka stepped up to the occasion and added 55 runs along with Sadeera Samarawickrama to steady the ship. Later, he stitched a 44-run stand with Charith Asalanka. Mark Watt dismissed him in the 29th over.
A look at his ODI numbers
Due to a fine 85-ball 75, Nissanka completed 1,000 runs in ODI cricket. He raced to 1,036 runs in 30 ODIs at an average of 37. Besides nine fifties, he has smashed a solitary hundred. His highest ODI score of 137 came against Australia in Colombo last year. Notably, this was his first ODI appearance against Scotland and he dominated the bowlers.
His run in ODIs since 2021
Nissanka made his ODI debut in 2021 against WI. The youngster has been one of the standout batters for SL in this format. Since his debut in March 2021, he has scored the second-most runs for SL in this format. Only Asalanka (1,055) has scored more runs in this period. They are the only two SL batters to cross 1,000 runs in this period.
How did the innings pan out?
Scotland invited SL to bat first and they lost two quick wickets. However, Nissanka and Samarawickrama held the fort with a fine partnership., Later, Asalanka (63) also added crucial partnerships with Nissanka and Dhananjaya de Silva. Ultimately SL suffered a lower-order collapse as they were bundled out for only 245. Scotland's Chris Greaves starred with bowling figures of 4/32 in his 6.3 overs.
