By IANS,
Bulwayo : Sri Lanka thrashed Zimbabwe by nine wickets in a rain affected One-day International of the tri-series here Tuesday.
Late start due to heavy rains curtailed the match to 27 overs each and opting to bowl first Sri Lanka bowled out Zimbabwe for 118 runs in 24.5 overs at the Queens Sports Club.
Hamilton Masakadza was the top scorer for the hosts with 62 runs while the second highest were the extras at 13.
Sri Lankan batsmen achieved the target of 119 runs in just 15.2 overs with skipper Tillekaratne Dilshan scoring an unbeaten 60 and Upul Tharanga making 40.
It was a clinical performance by the Sri Lankan bowlers as Ajantha (2/21) bamboozled Zimbabwe with his mystery deliveries while Suraj Randiv (3/23) troubled them with his accuracy and debutant leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis (2/12) came up with an impressive performance.
Seamers also did their bit as Nuwan Kulasekara choked the Zimbabwe batsmen with the new ball spell that read 3-0-7-0 and Dilhara Fernando extracted bounce from short of a length to produce an equally tight spell.
For Sri Lankan batsmen it was a cakewalk and Tharanga and Dilshan built the foundation with their 86-run opening stand. Tharanga’s 37-ball innings was studded with six fours while Dilshan struck seven fours and a six in his 45-ball knock.