Watch: Sadeera Samarawickrama crunched a huge six off Mohammad Nawaz, on his way to a glorious maiden ODI hundred in Sri Lanka’s second match of the 2023 World Cup against Pakistan today (October 10).
Samarawikrama came close to 3 runs in the 44th over of Sri Lanka’s innings and had earlier reached 50 off 46 balls. He was struck out on the third ball of Nawaz’s ninth over and a hard hit to the offside sent him into the 90s.
Nawaz threw a float throw and Samarawickrama jumped over the pitch and matched it. He bent his back leg, stepped back, and continued to hit the ball with his head over covers and well over the boundary rope for six minutes. The biggest inside-out shot had the commentary team calling it the “shot of the day.”
With this shot, Samarawickrama scored 93 before reaching his maiden ODI century in the second over with Hassan Ali’s single. His 100 came off 82 balls and Sri Lanka far exceeded 300, with Pakistan ultimately winning by 345 balls. Samara Wickrema was caught trying to fend off Hassan’s reverse pull as he was out on 108 off 89 balls in the 48th over.
Early into the match, Kusal Mendis scored the fastest run for Sri Lanka this century in the Men’s ODI World Cup, and the sixth highest run-scorer overall. He reached triple figures with 65 balls, hitting 14 fours and six sixes in the innings. Sri Lanka will be looking to get their World Cup campaign back on track after losing to South Africa in the opening match of the tournament, conceding the highest score in the history of the Men’s ODI World Cup.
Watch: Sadeera Samarawickrama hits thunderous inside-out six off Mohammad Nawaz
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