Australia beat Sri Lanka by three wickets to win the three-match T20 series.
A day after their 10-wicket win, the spectators worked hard to win the series as the Sri Lankan bowlers bowled in Colombo. Premadasa performed well by defending a medium target at the stadium.
As happened: The Maroons kept up the momentum to win the late Blues
Read more: The HIA call to the Blues Star surprised the Greats
Player rating: Blues rookies are ruthlessly exposed
Chasing 125 for victory, Aaron Finch (24) and David Warner (21) gave Australia a great start, averaging 33 off 16 balls for the first wicket.
Australia lost a few quick wickets, including Steve Smith, for just five runs and needed 45 runs to win 5-80. But the T20 World Champions had a lot of overs left to bat.
Despite leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga’s four-wicket haul, wicketkeeper Matthew Wade kept his nerves to watch Australia through an unbeaten 26 runs.
Hasranga took two wickets off two balls and Ashton Agar fell without a run, but Australia needed 26 runs to win. Wade and Zhai Richardson finished with 13 balls to spare.
“We know that when Sri Lanka roll, it’s hard to stop them,” Wade said. “It’s great to have some pressure towards the end and to cross the line. I knew their spinners had only four overs left and that was it. The run rate was not an issue and I had to make sure I waited until the end. “
Clinical performance has shown why Australia is a strong contender to win the World Cup again later this year when it hosts the tournament.
Not much has happened for Sri Lanka in the T20s this year as they have won just one of their last 10 games.
Problems batting again. The hosts were able to score only 26 runs in the power play and failed to create a challenging score.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said, “I think 20 more runs would have worked for us. “It simply came to our notice then. We lost the top order wicket early today and the game was very important in the conditions and we didn’t do that today. “
The Sri Lankan captain also felt that his team had made a mistake in selecting the team: “We have to choose whether we are going with a fast bowler or a spinner. It was a tough call. We now realize that we have not made the right choice. “
The Australian bowlers were very good in the death over and took four wickets for no runs at one stage. He finished with four for 30, the best statistic of his career.
Richardson, who replaced the injured Mitchell Starc, was equally good at taking three wickets for 26 runs, the best of his short career.
The last match of the series on Saturday in Kandy.
To get a daily dose of the best breaking news and exclusive content from the Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter Click here!
