There were few positives for Australia to take home from Thursday’s T20 World Cup encounter against Sri Lanka, the biggest of which is opening batsman David Warner’s return to form after a torrid time in the IPL. A disciplined bowling effort from the Aussie bowlers kept Sri Lanka’s total down to 154. The openers did a fantastic job of taking the game away from the Lankans in the powerplay, guiding Australia to a convincing win.
Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and decided to field first, perhaps keeping the dew factor in mind. Sri Lanka didn’t have the best of starts, losing opener Pathum Nissanka in the third over. However, Charith Asalanka and Kusal Perera built a good partnership, scoring boundaries on a regular basis, as SL ended the powerplay on 54/1.
The duo looked to continue their fluent batting through the middle overs but weren’t able to do so, as both batsmen gave their wickets away. Perera was bowled off a spectacular inswinging yorker from Starc, as Sri Lanka looked to be in danger. To make things worse, Hasaranga and Avishka Fernando lost their wickets as well, in successive overs.
With Lanka reeling at 94/5 in 13 overs, Bhanuka Rajapaksa came to the rescue, playing a much-needed innings of 33 in just 26 deliveries, as he carried Sri Lanka to a reasonable total of 154/6 at the end of 20 overs.
Given their deep batting line-up, the Australians would have expected to chase Lanka’s total with no difficulty whatsoever, and that is exactly what transpired. The vastly experienced duo of Warner and Finch went hell for leather right from ball one, picking the Sri Lankan bowlers apart in the powerplay, as they scored 63 runs.
Finch was eventually dismissed for a fabulous 37, followed immediately by Glenn Maxwell, who holed out to deep mid-wicket. However, this didn’t bother the Aussies one bit, as Warner and Steve Smith continued to score quick runs.
Warner brought up his half-century in just 31 balls, prompting a feeling of relief from the Aussie, who was going through a bit of a lean patch in recent times. The boundaries kept coming, and the strike was constantly rotated as Australia inched towards the target with more than enough time left.
Warner got out in the last phase of the innings for a wonderful 65 before Marcus Stoinis walked in. Stoinis was in no mood to take things slowly, as he hit a couple of boundaries and a six to wrap up Australia’s chase with 18 balls to go.
Adam Zampa, who bowled a brilliant spell of 4-0-12-2, was named the man of the match. With two wins out of two and qualification all but sealed, Australia will look to get the better of arch-rivals England in their next encounter.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka- 154/6 in 20 overs (Perera-35(25); Asalanka- 35(27); Zampa-2/12; Starc- 2/27)
Australia- 155/3 in 17 overs (Warner 65(42); Finch 37(23); Hasaranga- 2/22; Shanaka- 1/6)
Australia beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets with 18 balls to spare
