Prolific off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan ripped through New Zealand's batting to resurrect Sri Lanka's Champions Trophy campaign with a seven-wicket win here on Friday. Sri Lanka, who would have been knocked out of the eight-nation tournament had they lost, shot out the Black Caps for 165 and then surpassed the modest total in the 36th over of the day-night international.
Muralitharan revelled on a turning track to take 4-23, before young opener Upul Tharanga (56) and captain Mahela Jayawardene (48) put on 89 for the second wicket to build on the advantage.
Both batsmen fell in four deliveries from spinner Jeetan Patel, but Kumar Sangakkara and former skipper Marvan Atapattu guided Sri Lanka to an impressive victory.
Sri Lanka, who had lost to Pakistan on Tuesday, recovered in time to keep the chase alive for the two semi-final berths from group B.
Both Sri Lanka and New Zealand have one win each from two matches. Pakistan have played one game while South Africa lost their opening match to New Zealand.
"We have come back strongly but we can't afford to relax. We have to keep winning," said Jayawardene, whose team has now won 10 of their last 11 matches.
"The key was to keep the runs down and I think the bowlers, especially Murali, did a great job. Chasing around 230 would have been much harder on this wicket so it was nice to keep them to 165."
New Zealand's Stephen Fleming, who equalled Sri Lankan Arjuna Ranatunga's record of 193 one-dayers as captain, blamed the batsmen for the defeat.
"This definitely was not a 165 pitch," said Fleming. "It played much better than before but we lost momentum with the fall of early wickets. We batted very poorly.
"Having won our first match, we had the luxury of staying in the tournament after a bad match. We need to raise our game against Pakistan."
The Brabourne stadium wicket continued to assist turn despite the International Cricket Council's pitch consultant Andy Atkinson spraying it with a glue, Polyvinvl Acetate, before the start to help bind it for 100 overs.
The pitch, that turned from brown to white after the spray, had been criticised over the last week for breaking up in the second innings, causing a string of low scores.
New Zealand were reduced to 118-9 in the 39th over before the last-wicket pair of Vettori and Jeetan Patel (10) added 47 runs. Left-handed Vettori boosted the total with three consecutive boundaries off Chaminda Vaas in the 49th over which cost 19 runs.
Sri Lanka also conceded 10 wides and seven no-balls in the innings with the seasoned Vaas being the worst offender with four wides and six no-balls. New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, returning after missing the previous game with a stiff back, was hammered for 36 runs in his first four overs when Sri Lanka began their reply.

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L. Vincent b Maharoof                        13
S. Fleming lbw b Vaas                         0
N. Astle c Malinga b Muralitharan            42
H. Marshall c Dilshan b Malinga               4
S. Styris c Sangakkara b Jayasuriya           3
J. Oram b Muralitharan                        6
B. McCullum c Jayawardene b Muralitharan      9
D. Vettori not out                           46
K. Mills lbw b Muralitharan                   6
S. Bond c Sangakkara b Jayasuriya             1
J. Patel c Jayawardene b Malinga             10
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Extras: (lb8, nb7, w10)                      25
Total:                                      165
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Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Fleming), 2-37 (Vincent), 3-56 (Marshall), 4-66 (Styris), 5-82 (Oram), 6-87 (Astle), 7-101 (McCullum), 8-115 (Mills), 9-118 (Bond).
Bowling: Vaas 10-1-41-1 (nb6, w4), Malinga 9.2-1-22-2 (w3), Maharoof 8-0-34-1 (nb1, w1), Jayasuriya 10-0-26-2 (w1), Muralitharan 10-1-23-4 (w1), Dilshan 2-0-11-0.
Overs: 49.2

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U. Tharanga st McCullum b Patel              56
S. Jayasuriya c McCullum b Mills             20
M. Jayawardene c Vettori b Patel             48
K. Sangakkara not out                        19
M. Atapattu not out                          10
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Extras: (lb1, nb8, w4)                       13
Total: (for three wickets)                  166
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Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Jayasuriya), 2-134 (Jayawardene), 3-135 (Tharanga).
Bowling: Mills 5-0-24-1 (w2), Bond 7-0-46-0 (nb5, w2), Oram 4-0-14-0 (nb1), Vettori 10-0-45-0(nb1), Patel 9-0-32-2 (nb1), Astle 1-0-4-0
Overs: 36
RESULT: Sri Lanka won by seven wickets
Toss: New Zealand
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Rudi Koertzen (RSA)
TV umpire: Mark Benson (ENG)
Match referee: Mike Procter
(RSA).