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 match looked all but over for Zimbabwe when Angelo Mathews came to bowl the final over. 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 began the final over by overstepping and Jongwe hit a six on the same delivery to bring down the equation to 13 runs from 6 balls. On the resulting free-hit, Jongwe hit a four to leave his team needing 9 runs from the last 5 deliveries.
Chris Silverwood loses cool:
On the second ball of the over, Jongwe hit the former Sri Lanka captain for another six to bring down the equation to 3 runs from the last 4 balls. Mathews finally bowled a dot delivery to keep his team’s chances alive. On the fourth ball of the over, Sri Lanka had the chance to take command of the situation when Jongwe mistimed a slog.
The ball went high in the air and Maheesh Theekshana had all the time in the world to steady himself and complete an easy catch. However, the Sri Lanka spinner fumbled the opportunity and ended up dropping the Zimbabwe player, turning a seemingly straightforward catch into a missed chance.
As soon as he dropped the catch, the cameras turned towards the Sri Lankan dressing room where Chris Silverwood was seen losing his cool. The former England head coach failed to keep his emotions under control and was seen slamming his notebook on the floor in anger.
Watch:
don't know how chris silverwood is still surviving as a srilanka coach. 😭 pic.twitter.com/OdDOuXMAVy
— ɯlse (@pitchinginline) January 17, 2024
Zimbabwe went on to win the game by 4 wickets. With 2 runs needed off the last 2 balls, Madande slogged a low toss over the deep mid-wicket boundary for a six to seal the memorable win in style.
The moment that Clive Madande did it for Zimbabwe and robbed the Sri Lankans 🔥🇿🇼 pic.twitter.com/MJOVR4r2vc
— Adam Theo🇿🇼🏏 (@AdamTheofilatos) January 16, 2024
The win is Zimbabwe’s first win 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 to take place on Thursday (January 18).
