By Srian Obeyesekere

Sri Lanka’s gem in a rusty batting fold torn in a resultant bad beating defeatist runs from 3 ODI defeats and 2 losses in this Tri Series to hosts Pakistan and Zimbabwe, yesterday rose from the pangs of a form rut on tour that had eroded his Mr. Reliable with the bat team man consistency to lifting Sri Lanka out of its disarrayed batting mess to resurrecting hopes of making the Tri Nation final by a blitzing 98 off 58 ball of a blazingly shiny gem jewel of an innings to a comprehensive 9-wicket triumph that brought back his side from the brink of the precipice back into contention in a whiff of hope of making the finals thankfully for Lankan cricket souls craving to witness a cup conquest brought back home.

Of course, that 50-50 thread hope would depend on Sri Lanka denting Pakistan in their upcoming face off having fallen short of defeating Zimbabwe yesterday on a required 13.3 net run rate to pipping their opponents to the finals.

An upfront Nissanka firing blazed in 4 scorching shots to the stands and 11 boundary filled in a final 148c for 1 high highlighted by an 89-run unfinished second wicket bonding off 62 balls together with Kusal Mendis’ sedate run a ball watchful 25 with a brazen six and boundary, Sri Lanka crossing the line over Zimbabwe’s 146 for 5 off 20, was an appropriate pay off for the previous defeat at their hands in a somewhat pleasing bowling performance by the Lankans on the 2-wicket apiece Wandindu Hasaranga and brought back Mahees Theekshana with the Zimbabweans total revolving around identical scores of 37 by Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl and Brian Bennet 34.