Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka on Sunday credited the spinners for their dominating nine-wicket win over Ireland in their T20 World Cup match.

He said keeping spin options for the death overs did the trick.

The spin duo of Maheesh Theekshana (2/19) and Wanindu Hasaranga (2/25) set up the win for the Asia Cup champions by restricting Ireland to 128 for 8.

“Really happy with the way we’ve played the game, we set out to do some things and did well.

“We knew spin would play a major role, we knew they’d like pace, so we kept a lot of spin for the back-end,” Shanaka said at the postmatch presentation ceremony.

Kusal Mendis then complemented the bowlers with a 43-ball 68 as Sri Lanka, who lost to minnows Namibia in their first qualifying round game, overhauled the target with five overs to spare.

“He (Mendis) has been consistent this year, has played according to the situation most of the times,” Shanaka said.

Shanaka’s Ireland counterpart Andrew Balbirnie was left disappointed with the team’s batting effort against the Lankan spinners.

“We knew they’d be a big threat.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of spin, but enough to challenge the stumps and bat. We wanted to get 160 or so.

We knew they did have a threat of spin on a used wicket, but you have to bat well — be it first or second,” he said.

Covid-19 ‘debut’

The tournament reported its first Covid-19 case as Ireland all-rounder George Dockrell was identified as “potentially positive” for the virus ahead of Sunday’s match.

Dockrell, however, took the field and made 14. As per the current regulations, a Covid positive test does not stop a player from playing in the ongoing T20 World Cup or training with his teammates. However, the positive player is required to travel separately on match and training days.

Brief score: Ireland 128/8 in 20 overs (Harry Tector 45; Maheesh Theekshana 2/19). Sri Lanka 133/1 in 15 ovs (Kusal Mendis 68 n.o.; Gareth Delany 1/28). Sri Lanka won by 9 wkts.

Written with inputs from PTI