Australian batters had no trouble chasing Sri Lanka’s low total in the third match of the ongoing 5-match T20I series on Tuesday (February 15) in Canberra and won the contest by 6 wickets. Australia claimed the Twenty20 International series with two games to spare with this victory. Australia will strive to sweep the Sri Lankan team by winning the remaining two matches. Oppositely, Sri Lanka will be hoping to reclaim some respect by winning at least one match in the series. The third T20I report of the AUS vs SL 2022 series is discussed in this article.
Australia vs Sri Lanka T20I Series 2022: Third Match Report
Sri Lanka were sent to bat first by Australian captain Aaron Finch. The Lankan side only managed to score 121/6 in their allotted 20 overs. The Australians had no problem chasing Sri Lanka’s 121-run target. They reached the target with 19 balls to spare, losing four wickets in the process. The victory gave Australia a 3-0 lead in the AUS vs SL 2022 T20I series.
Sri Lanka Innings
The third match was a must-win game for Sri Lanka in order to keep the T20I series alive. However, Sri Lanka’s worst performance in the series came in the third game, when they only managed to score 121 after being given the chance to bat first.
Sri Lanka kept losing wickets from the start of the innings as pacer Kane Richardson put them under pressure by taking two wickets in three overs. At one point, they were down to 42/4 at the end of 8 overs.
Dinesh Chandimal and Captain Dasun Shanaka tried to rebuild the innings by putting up 47 runs for the fifth wicket. Though, they had to play 53 deliveries to score those runs. Richardson picked up Chandimal’s (25) wicket in the 17th over to end the partnership yet again.
Sri Lanka scored 34 runs in the final four overs, losing two more wickets, and they were forced to settle with a low total to defend the match. Sri Lanka’s captain Dasun Shanaka scored the highest runs with 39. On the other hand, Kane Richardson took the most wickets for Australia with three.
Australia Innings
Australia lost the opener, Ben McDermott, on the first ball of the innings Thanks to Maheesh Theekshana’s carrom ball. Maheesh was outstanding in the match, taking three wickets for 24 runs in four overs. Medium-pacer Dushmantha Chameera had a solid day with the ball as well. He was economical but didn’t get a wicket. As a result, Australian batters had little problem chasing a low score even after losing an opener on the first ball.
Sri Lanka picked up one more wicket in the power play, but a 50-run partnership between captain Aaron Finch (35) and Glenn Maxwell propelled the innings to 76 in 11 overs. The Australian batters were under little pressure in the middle with only 45 runs required to win the match and the series in the last nine overs.
Josh Inglis (21) and Marcus Stoinis (12) played two more important knocks to help Australia win by 16.5 overs. Australia’s all-rounder Glenn Maxwell scored the most runs with 39. On the other hand, right-arm off-break bowler Maheesh Theekshana was Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler.
Player of the Match
Right-arm fast-medium bowler Kane Richardson was awarded player of the match for his excellent balling. His crucial breakthroughs aided Australia in restricting Sri Lanka to a modest total.
Bottom Line
The Sri Lankan team has shown some progress against the reigning T20 World Cup winner, but they are yet to win a match in this AUS vs SL 2022 T20I series. Losing three consecutive matches is a major disappointment, but playing in Australian conditions is a valuable learning experience for the Lankan team. Furthermore, Australia will host the upcoming T20 World Cup, thus the Sri Lankan team would benefit from this experience in adapting to the conditions. On the other hand, the Australian team will try to maintain its momentum in the remaining matches ahead of a tricky Pakistan tour in March-April.
Source: United News of Bangladesh