Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson each made half centuries in a 101-run opening partnership to help New Zealand beat Sri lanka by three runs in the first Twenty20 international between the teams on Thursday.
Guptill scored 58 from 34 balls to give New Zealand the high-tempo start it needed after Sri lanka won the toss and elected to bowl first. Williamson supported him with 53 from 42 balls to lead New Zealand to 182-4.
In reply, Danushka Gunathilaka made 46 and Milinda Siriwardana 42 to help Sri lanka keep things close into the final over. But Grant Elliott held his nerve and bowled a steady last over that saw Sri lanka lose two wickets and fall just short at 179-9.
Sri lanka, the world's top-ranked Twenty20 team, seemed out of the match when it slumped to 42-4 in the fifth over after losing Tillakaratne Dilshan (0), Dinesh Chandimal (7), Shehan Jayasuriya (4) and Angelo Mathews (4) in quick succession. But Gunathilaka and Siriwardana battled back to help the visitors slowly creep into contention, needing just 44 runs in the last five overs to win with four wickets in hand.
Siriwardana was then dismissed in the 17th over when Sri lanka was 153-7, leaving it up to Chamara Kapugedera and Nuwan Kulasekara to maintain the chase.
With Sri lanka needing 19 runs from the final 12 balls, Williamson had used up all of his frontline bowlers and was forced to turn to Elliott, the star of New Zealand's successful campaign at last year's ICC World Cup.
After allowing only a two and a leg bye off his first two balls, Elliott dismissed Kulasekara and then squeezed Kapugedera, who was run out next ball, to help New Zealand clinch a tight win.
Guptill continued his outstanding form for New Zealand with his seventh half century in Twenty20 internationals. He rushed to 32 from only 11 balls but was then constrained by Sri lanka's slower bowlers and found scoring hard to come by.
Still, he had four fours and four sixes before being run out by a direct hit from Nuwan Kapugedera.
Brief Scores
NZ: 182/4 (Guptill 58, Williamson 53) beat Sl: 179/9 (Gunathilaka 46, ; Boult 3-21) by three runs.