Sri Lanka beat New Zealand 1-0 in the first match of the three-match T20I series. Kiwis won the next match by 9 wickets. As a result, the series is tied at 1-1. They will face each other in the third match on Saturday (April at 7 am in the unannounced final. In the first T20, Sri Lanka beat New Zealand in the Super Over to take a 1-0 lead in the series. In this victory, the Sri Lankans got their first victory on this tour of New Zealand. Before the T20, they lost the two-match Test and three-match ODI series to New Zealand by 2-0. New Zealand came from behind to play the second match in Dunedin and won with a bang. New Zealand won the match by 9 wickets with the bowling of pacer Adam Milne and the devastating batting of opener Tim Seifert.

Batting first, Sri Lanka was bowled out for 141 runs in Milan’s 5-wicket haul. New Zealand touched the target of 142 runs with 32 balls to spare. Seifert scored an unbeaten 79 off 43 balls with 3 fours and 6 sixes. Tom Latham, the New Zealand captain, said that the goal of winning the series is to maintain the performance of the second match. He said that the team performed best in the second match even though it was not 100% in the first match. Our main goal is to win the series by continuing the performance. Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanakao is optimistic about winning the series. He said, “We could not bat in the first match in the second T20. Need to turn around and play better cricket. Hopefully, we will be able to win the series by performing well in the third match.