The 2nd T20I between Australia and Sri Lanka finished in a thrilling tie after an amazing effort from Pathum Nissanka and the lower order. But the hosts ultimately triumphed in the super over, chasing 6 in 3 deliveries.
Australia got off to a much better start than the 1st T20I after being put into bat, with Ben McDermott and Aaron Finch looking to go after the bowling in the Powerplay. Debutant Nuwan Thushara got the breakthrough for Sri Lanka, when McDermott found Wanindu Hasaranga down at long on, but the hosts continued to score at good rate.
It looked like it was going to be Finch’s day, having a couple of close lbw decisions go his way, but the right-hander fell to a Hasaranga’s wrong-un once again – Hasaranga has now taken Finch’s wicket three times in T20 cricket from just 15 balls bowled.
Josh Inglis kept the run-rate going alongside Glen Maxwell and at 80/2 at the halfway stage, things looked ominous for the visitors.
However, first Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana and later Chamika Karunaratne and Dushmantha Chameera managed to pull things back significantly in the latter half of the innings.
Their execution of plans to Marcus Stoinis was particularly impressive, bowling wide slower deliveries outside his arc, to keep him quiet in the death. From the 16th – 19th over Sri Lanka conceded just 27 runs and then let the hosts get away a little in the last over with 16 coming off Thushara.
Australia were once again left ruing their inability to push on after a good start, finishing with 164 and the use of Steve Smith in the middle overs, with Stoinis and Wade still in the hut is definitely something to think about.
Sri Lanka’s chase got off to the worst possible start, with Danushka Gunathilake once again being dismissed early – this time for a golden duck. The visitors also lost Avishka Fernando and Charith Asalanka in the powerplay – neither looking to be batting with any kind of confidence against Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins – as Sri Lanka stuttered to 36/3 in the powerplay.
Sri Lanka’s innings seemed to be going nowhere, but Pathum Nissanka stuck in there, working his way through to the end of the innings while wickets fell at the end. He reached his 50 off 44 deliveries and then kicked on with his next 223 coming off 9 deliveries.
In the end, Sri Lanka needed 46 off the last 3 overs and somehow managed to get 45 to tie the game on the back of some big hits from Nissanka and some surprise boundaries off the bat of Maheesh Theekshana and Dushmantha Chameera.
In the super over, Shanaka missed the 1st 3 deliveries, then got a single off the 4th and Sri Lanka were never really going anywhere, managing just 5. Josh Hazlewood was just impossible to get away, executing his plans to perfection. At this point it really didn’t matter who would bowl the super over for Sri Lanka and the went with the aggressive option of Hasaranga. Australia chased down 6 with ease to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben McDermott | c Wanidu Hasaranga b Nuwan Thushara | 18 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 120.00 |
| Aaron Finch | st Dinesh Chandimal b Wanidu Hasaranga | 25 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Josh Inglis | c Dinesh Chandimal b Maheesh Theekshana | 48 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Glenn Maxwell | c Chamika Gunasekara b Maheesh Theekshana | 15 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Steve Smith | c Dhanushka Gunathilake b Dushmantha Chameera | 14 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 93.33 |
| Marcus Stoinis | c Maheesh Theekshana b Dushmantha Chameera | 19 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 105.56 |
| Matthew Wade | not out | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 325.00 |
| Pat Cummins | not out | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Extras | 6 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 4, pen 0) |
| Total | 164/6 (20 Overs, RR: 8.2) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dushmantha Chameera | 4 | 0 | 30 | 2 | 7.50 | |
| Nuwan Thushara | 4 | 0 | 40 | 1 | 10.00 | |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 4 | 0 | 31 | 1 | 7.75 | |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 33 | 2 | 8.25 | |
| Chamika Karunaratne | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Pat Cummins b Marcus Stoinis | 73 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 137.74 |
| Dhanushka Gunathilake | c Ben McDermott b Josh Hazlewood, | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Avishka Fernando | c Josh Inglis b Josh Hazlewood, | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Charith Asalanka | b Pat Cummins | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | b Adam Zampa | 19 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 86.36 |
| Dasun Shanaka | run out () | 34 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 178.95 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | c Matthew Wade b Jhye Richardson | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | c Pat Cummins b Josh Hazlewood, | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 144.44 |
| Dushmantha Chameera | not out | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 400.00 |
| Maheesh Theekshana | not out | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 300.00 |
| Extras | 10 (b 1 , lb 7 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 164/8 (19 Overs, RR: 8.63) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Hazlewood, | 4 | 0 | 22 | 3 | 5.50 | |
| Pat Cummins | 4 | 0 | 30 | 1 | 7.50 | |
| Marcus Stoinis | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 9.00 | |
| Kane Richardson | 4 | 0 | 44 | 1 | 11.00 | |
| Adam Zampa | 4 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 6.50 | |
| Glenn Maxwell | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.00 | |
