Taylor, de Grandhomme steer NZ to victory in opening T20I

Sri Lanka T20I captain Lasith Malinga won the toss and decided his side would bat first. The two Kusals, Mendis and Perera, opened the batting and got off to a fine start, adding 41 for the first wicket inside the first four and a half overs. Kusal Perera was the first wicket to fall with stand-in New Zealand captain Tim Southee breaking the stand.

Avishka Fernando joined Kusal Mendis, but he couldn’t make a meaningful contribution. He was stumped by Tim Seifert off the bowling of Mitchell Santner. The loss of Fernando resulted in the most profitable partnership in the Sri Lanka innings between Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella. The pair added 63 in exactly five overs. Mendis top scoring in the Sri Lanka innings with 79 (8x4 & 2x6.)

Kusal Mendis acknowledges his half-century

The back-end of the Sri Lanka innings saw a couple of quick-fire cameos from Dasun Shanaka (17* off 12 balls) and Isuru Udana, who smacked 15* from just three balls. Captain Southee was the pick of the Blackcaps bowlers taking 2/20 from his four overs.

In reply New Zealand’s innings got off to the worst possible start as Lasith Malinga clean bowled Colin Munro for a golden duck. The wicket was Malinga’s 98th in T20I’s, making him the joint leading wicket-taker in men's T20 internationals alongside Shahid Afridi.

Two more wickets fell inside the first eight overs as debutant Wanindu Hasaranga took a wicket in his first over.

📸 Wanindu Hasaranga received his T20I cap from Team Manager/Chief Selector Mr. Asantha de Mel. pic.twitter.com/raFe07PQUQ

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) September 1, 2019

This bought together Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor and New Zealand seemed on course to victory as the pair reduced the required run-rate.

However, Malinga bought himself back into the attack and struck third ball of the 13th over, bowling de Grandhomme with one of his trademark yorkers, making Malinga the leading wicket-taker in T20I history.