Simonds Stadium, Geelong (Australia): The qualifiers round of ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 has been repeatedly throwing nerve-racking contests as the team look to qualify for the Super 12 stage of the tournament. The Sri Lanka vs United Arab Emirates match of Group A that is underway at the moment had the viewers and fans jump on their seats as Karthik Meiyappan took a hat-trick against the Sri Lankans, endangering their place in the Super 12 stage.
Sri Lankans were once cruising at 117-2 until the third delivery of the 15th over when Meiyappan dented the Lankan batting line-up to put a halt to the free flowing runs. Overall, Meiyappan came up with mindboggling numbers against the Lankans dismissing Bhanuka Rajapaksa (5 runs from 8 balls), Charith Asalanka (0 off 1) and skipper Dasun Shanaka (0 off 1).
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How it happened?
In the fourth delivery of the 15th over, Rajapaksa was caught by Basil Hameed off Meiyappan after he opted for a full and flighted deliver, which the batter tried to hit it through covers but was caught in the deep. The fifth delivery saw Aravind getting dismissed for a duck after a tossed-up ball, which was a googly was caught by the wicket-keeper. The last ball of the over was the best of the lot as the bowler clean bowled shanaka with a 78kph deliver. This was another googly from him and pierced through the gap between the bat and the pad.
Sri Lanka ended the innings at 152-8 in 20 overs.
