Lankan Opener Kusal Mendis hammered 68 off 43 balls as Sri Lanka defeated Ireland comfortably by 9 wickets in Group 1 match of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Sunday.

In the match held at Hobart in Australia, winning the toss, Ireland opted to bat first.

Veteran campaigner Paul Starling scored 45 off 42 balls, but that was not enough to give Ireland a big score.

Maheesh Thekshana and Wanidu Hasaranga both took 2 wickets for Sri Lanka for 19 and 25 runs respectively.

In reply, Sri Lanka sailed on easily with opener Kusal Mendis as he finished the job of chasing with one-down batter Charith Asalanka who scored 31 off 22.  

Kusal Mendis was judged Player of the Match for his brilliant batting. 

Bd-pratidin Lutful Hoque