Sri Lanka Head coach Chris Silverwood lost his cool after Maheesh Theekshana dropped an easy catch in the last over of the second SL vs ZIM T20I in Colombo on Tuesday (January 16).
The game seemed almost over Zimbabwe when Angelo Mathews came to pitch the finale. The visitors needed 20 runs in the last over and Sri Lanka looked destined to win the game. However, Luke Jongwe and Clive Madande had other ideas.
Mathews started the final over over and Jongwe hit a six off the same delivery to reduce the equation to 13 runs off 6 balls. In the resulting free throw, Jongwe hit a four to leave his team needing 9 runs off the last 5 deliveries.
Chris Silverwood loses his cool:
On the second ball of the over, Jongwe hit the former Sri Lanka captain for another six to reduce the equation to 3 runs off the last 4 balls. Mathews finally kicked a point to keep his team’s chances alive. In the fourth ball of the over, Sri Lanka had a chance to take control of the situation when Jongwe missed at the right time.
The ball went high in the air and Maheesh Theekshana had all the time in the world to stabilize himself and complete an easy catch. However, the Sri Lankan bowler missed the opportunity and ended up bowling the Zimbabwean bowler, turning a seemingly simple catch into a missed opportunity.
As soon as he dropped the catch, cameras moved towards the Sri Lankan dressing room where Chris Silverwood was seen losing his cool. The former England coach failed to keep his emotions under control and was seen slamming his notebook on the ground in anger.
Look:
I don’t know how Chris Silverwood is still surviving as Srilanka coach. 😭 pic.twitter.com/OdDOuXMAVy
— ɯlse (@pitchinginline) January 17, 2024
Zimbabwe won the game by 4 wickets. With 2 runs needed off the last 2 balls, Madande hit a low delivery over the deep mid-wicket boundary for six to seal the memorable victory in style.
The moment Clive Madande did it for Zimbabwe and robbed Sri Lankans 🔥🇿🇼 pic.twitter.com/MJOVR4r2vc
– Adam Theo🇿🇼🏏 (@AdamTheofilatos) January 16, 2024
The victory is Zimbabwe’s first on the tour. They lost the three-match ODI series 2-0 before suffering a 3-wicket defeat in the first T20I. The third and final T20I is scheduled for Thursday (January 18).