New Zealand bowled first after winning the toss and restricted Sri Lanka to a meagre total of 136 all-out in 29.2 overs. While replying, New Zealand chased down the target in 16.1 overs without losing any wicket to pull up a convincing 10-wicket win. Martin Guptill and Colin Munro remained unbeaten on 73 and 58 respectively.
New Zealand, current runners-up of the World Cup, got off to the new edition of the showpiece event with a thumping win.
This is the biggest win of New Zealand in the World Cup against the Asian side. They surpassed their previous win by nine wickets which they recorded back in 1979 at Nottingham.
While batting first, Sri Lanka lost Lahiru Thirimanne in the first over bowled by Matt Henry. The delivery was at the line of leg stump. Thirimanne went to cut it away but missed the line, and the ball hit his pad. New Zealand went for a review immediately and the TV replays showed Thirimanne is gone.
Sri Lanka could not manage to overcome this initial blow as they lost two more wickets within 10 overs. In the second wicket stand, they added 42 runs with the help of captain Dimuth Karunaratne and wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera.
After the dismissal of Perera, Sri Lanka’s middle order crushed like they had no clue to bat against the Kiwi pace attack. Kusal Mendis (0), Dhananjaya de Silva (4), Angelo Mathews (0) and Jeevan Mendis (1) were completely disappointing in Sri Lanka's World Cup opener.
Thisara Perera was the only man after Karunaratne and Kusal to reach a double-digit figure. He ended up scoring 27 off 23. The best batsman for Sri Lanka, however, was their captain Karunaratne registering hard-fought 52 off 84 balls. It was only his second ODI fifty after 2015.
Eventually, the Lankans got dismissed only for 136, which was their third lowest score in the World Cup while batting first.
For New Zealand, Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson bagged three wickets each conceding 29 and 22 respectively. Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, James Neesham and Mitchell Santner took one wicket each.