Sri Lanka lost a drama filled opening T20 by 4 wickets as the West Indies chasing a modest 132 rode a Akila Dananjaya hat-trick over only to see that magical spell evaporate into nothingness in the face of a record six sixes in an over by West Indian captain Kieron Pollard off the same bowler at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua. In the end, West Indies made it with 41 balls to spare.

After Sri Lanka had come a cropper in a poor batting performance of 131 after being put into bat with just two substantial scores from Pathum Nissanka 39 off 34 batting at No.3 with 4 boundaries and a six and opening batsman Niroshan Dickwella 33 off 29 with 3 boundaries and a six, the West Indies were reeling on 4 for 62 in 5 overs before Pollard unleashed a truly captain’s blitzkrieg. In the next over  Facing from Dananjaya Pollard powered to equaling the six sixes in an over world record held by Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh  in having taken 36 off an over with his shots sailing out of the small Antigua ground. 

Until that point Sri Lanka’s bowlers with Wanindu Hasaranga too picking 3 for 13 had done well to push back the opposition from 52 for no loss in 3.2 overs.

But overly, Sri Lanka would be ruing their dismal batting performance with just two noteworthy contributions from opening batsman Niroshan Dickwella 33 off 29 (3×4, 1×6) and debutant Pathum Nissanka 39 off 34 batting at No.3 (4×4, 1×6) on a day Danushka Gunathilaka fell for 4, skipper Angelo Mathews for 5, Dinesh Chandimal 11 and big hitter Thisara Perera for 1. 

CHIEF SCORES:

Sri Lanka 131/9 (20 Overs) RR: 6.55

 (Niroshan Dickwella 33 29 3 1, Pathum Nissanka 39 34 4 1, 

Dinesh Chandimal 11, Wanindu Hasarabga 12, Ashen Bandara 10, Obed McCoy 2/25)

West Indies 134/6 (13.1 Overs) RR: 10.17

(Lendl Simmons 26, Evin Lewis 28, Kieron Pollard 38 11 6, Jason Holder n.o. 28, 

Dwayne Bravo n.o. 4, Akila Dananjaya 3/62, Wanindu Hasaranga 3/13)