Sri Lanka vs Australia, 2nd T20I Highlights: Tillakaratne Dilshan denied a fitting farewell as visitors whitewash series
SL vs AUS, 2nd T20I Highlights: Dilshan denied a fitting farewell as visitors whitewash series
Sri Lanka and Australia played the last match of Australia’s tour to the subcontinent. Winning the first Twenty20 International (T20I) comprehensively, Australia were favourites to win the second and whitewash the series. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has different agenda to send their veteran opener and star all-rounder, Tillakaratne Dilshan, on a high note who was playing his last international match in a 17 year long career. Australia survived last minute scars but managed to win the match by four wickets to nail the series. Aditya Sahay brings out the best moments from the second and final match of the tour from R. Premadasa stadium, Colombo: Full Cricket Scorecard: Sri Lanka vs Australia 2nd T20I at Colombo
Guard of honour for Dilshan: After winning the toss, stand-in captain, Dinesh Chandimal, elected to bat and out came the Sri Lankan openers. Dilshan was accompanied by Kusal Perera but Dilshan was given the special guard of honour by his young side as he walked out to bat in Sri Lankan colours for one last time. He has been prolific performer for his national side in all formats and his services will always be remembered in the cricketing arena. It was a pleasant moment with cameramen attaining pictures of the occasion. However, Dilshan failed with the bat as he departed for 1 in the second over of the match, chasing a wide delivery off John Hastings. ALSO READ: Dilshan congratulated by ICC
Sri Lanka’s middle-order collapse: Sri Lanka has shown no signs of improvements with regards to middle-order. Sri Lanka have an inexperienced side at the moment as their players often throw their wickets in abundance. The script remained the same as only two players managed to get past the double figures in their line-up. Kusal Mendis, Chandimal, Chamara Kapugedara and Thisara Perera all came and went back early to give early momentum to the Australians.
Adam Zampa and James Faulkner rattle Sri Lanka batting unit: Zampa and Faulkner bowled in right areas and did not allow enough breathing space to the Sri Lankans to score. Runs were hard to come by after a precarious start by the hosts. Zampa bowled excellently as he bowled a bit slow in the area, whereas Faulkner mixed it up well to outfox the Sri Lankan batting. They picked up three wickets apiece and did not allow the opponents to score easily off them.
Dhananjaya de Silva’s lone fight with a valiant 62: De Silva has easily been the find of Sri Lanka in their series against Australia. De Silva came out to bat at No. 3 and looked the only one to be comfortable and sure of what he was doing at the crease. De Silva notched up his maiden T20I fifty to help his team get to some sort of total. However, he got no support from the other end which ensured Sri Lanka fall short of a modest total by 20-25 runs. De Silva batted for 50 balls and struck five boundaries to help Sri Lanka score 128 for 9 in 20 overs. ALSO READ: de Silva’s maiden T20I fifty helps SL post 128 vs AUS
Glenn Maxwell’s big show continued: Maxwell left from exactly where he had left in Pallekele. Maxwell, who was not a part of the One-Day International (ODI) team, showed the selectors missed a trick by ignoring him in the 50-overs format as he struck another quickfire 66 off just 29 balls. Maxwell brought his half-century off just 18 balls which included 7 fours and 4 sixes. Maxwell finished the series with 211 runs, falling short of the highest score by a batsman (Hamilton Masakadza’s 222 against Bangladesh) in a bilateral series by 11 runs. He ensured David Warner enjoyed every bit of his onslaught from the other end and Australia added 93 runs without losing a wicket.
A sudden collapse resulted in a dramatic finish: After Maxwell was dismissed for 66 by Seekkuge Prasanna, Australia still required 36 runs and with nine wickets in hand to reach the finishing line. It was expected to be a cake walk for them but the script changed in quick succession. Wickets fell in regular intervals as Sri Lankan spinners came handy towards the end. Sri Lankan spinners, Sachith Pathirana, Prasanna, de Silva and even Dilshan enjoyed themselves in a brief spell picking up the inexperienced Australian batsmen against spin as they bowled slow and the ball kept low on the turf.
In the end, a low score put up by Sri Lanka and Maxwell’s flamboyant innings proved to be the turning point in a thrilling contest where Australia won despite losing wickets cheaply in the end. Travis Head and Peter Nevill were present in the middle to ensure their team won the match by four wickets and whitewash the series 2-0. ALSO READ: AUS survive last minute scare to whitewash SL in T20I series
Maxwell was adjudged Man of the Match and Man of the Series. This brought an end to Australia’s long tour to the subcontinent. Australia lost the Test series but came back strong in the shorter format to end the tour on a high. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, too had lots of positives as some youngsters like de Silva and Mendis stood tall but will like to improve further with the white ball to press hard against teams in future series.
(Aditya Sahay is journalist with CricketCountry who is completely into sports and loves writing about cricket in general. He can be followed on Twitter at adisahay7)