Lowest T20I totals defended, full list: Glenn Phillips takes three wickets in final over to pull off three-run heist

Sri Lanka, coming off a win in the first T20I at the same venue last night, won the toss and chose to field first. They were rewarded instantly, as Nuwan Thushara knocked back Tim Robinson's off stump with a searing yorker off the very first ball.

They were 33-2 by the end of the Powerplay before Wanindu Hasaranga ripped through them in the middle overs, reducing the Kiwis to 52-6 in 10.3 overs. Mitchell Santner and Josh Clarkson then put on 32 for the seventh wicket before Matheesha Pathirana took 3-11 at the death to bowl them out for 108.

Also read: Jansen, Coetzee help restrict India to their lowest T20I total in South Africa

In reply, Sri Lanka lost Kusal Mendis early, before Lockie Ferguson became the fifth New Zealand bowler to take a T20I hat-trick. He dismissed Kusal Perera with the final ball of the sixth over, and Kamindu Mendis and Charith Asalanka off the first two deliveries of the eighth over. Sri Lanka then slid to 82-7, but opener Pathum Nissanka was still in the middle.

The hosts needed eight runs off the last over to win, as off-spinner Glenn Phillips came in to bowl. After a single off the first ball, Nissanka holed out at long on, trying to finish the match. Pathirana was stumped off the very next ball.

The equation then came down to six runs off two balls. Maheesh Theeskhana went for a heave into the leg side only to get a top edge which was safely pouched by keeper Mitchell Hay to secure a five-run win.

Lowest T20I totals successfully defended, full list

The score of 108 successfully defended by New Zealand is the fourth-lowest defended by a Full Member nation in men's T20I cricket, after West Indies' 96-9, Zimbabwe's 105 and Bangladesh's 106.

Naturally, this also makes it the lowest score New Zealand have ever managed to successfully defend in a men's T20I. Their previous best effort was also against Sri Lanka, when they defended 120-7 in Lauderhill in 2010, less than a week after that year's T20 World Cup.