SL v AUS 2nd T20I Review: Maxwell stars again as Australia hiccups past Sri Lanka

The stage was set at Colombo for the one last match of Australia tour to Sri Lanka. The second and the last T20 of the series was going down to be written in the history books for sure. The reason it being Tillakaratne Dilshan’s last international match. No matter what perspired as a result out of it, the game marked the end of an illustrious 17-year career of a Sri Lankan cricket legend.

Australia thrashed Sri Lanka in the first T20I and it was the Big Show Glenn Maxwell who managed to brush aside the hosts almost singlehandedly. Sri Lanka were hopeful of putting up a better performance this time around.

Coming into the match, the hosts managed to win the toss yet again and opted to bat first. Sri Lanka made one change to their side as they brought in SeekkugePrasanna for KasunRajitha. Surprisingly, Australia made two changes to their playing eleven – drafting in John Hastings and Matthew Wade and drafting out George Bailey and Scott Boland.

In walked the Sri Lankan openers Kusal Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan. Dilshan made his strides to the pitch one last time in international cricket. His stay wasn’t fruitful though as John Hastings played the villain sending him back in the 2nd over for just 1 (3). Perera was joined by Dhananjaya de Silva at the crease. Both batsmen did not waste much time before taking the counter attack.

Perera’s 18-ball 22 was halted by James Faulkner in the last over of the powerplay to get Dinesh Chandimal in the middle. Sri Lanka put 46 runs in the powerplay but had their openers back in the dugout. What followed after that was an absolute mayhem for the Sri Lanka batters. Wickets fell in heap and no batsmen could get into the double digits except de Silva.

De Silva held the fort from one end as wickets fell in clusters at the other. Faulkner caught and bowled Chandimal on 4. Spin was introduced by the Aussie skipper David Warner in the form of Adam Zampa. Zampa quickly removed Kusal Mendis by trapping him lbw on 5. The young leggie bagged 2 wickets in the 13th over to send back Chamara Kapugedara (7) and ThisaraPerera (0) as the hosts stuttered at 76/6.

Facing a severe threat to being bowled out under the 100-run mark, Sri Lanka looked up to one man for help. De Silva batted his skins out to score a fighting half-century in the 17th over to give the quiet crowd something to cheer about. Sri Lanka crawled past the 100-run mark but it was a little too late. Faulkner came back in to grab his 3rd for the night and dismissed Prasanna (7) and Hastings accounted for Sachith Pathirana’s (6) dismissal.

Also read: Sri Lanka v Australia, 2nd T20I: Five Talking Points

The last over saw De Silva perishing in his lone attempt to accelerate as Mitchell Starc was the beneficiary. De Silva’s 62 off 50 balls with 5 fours took Sri Lanka to a below par total of 128/9 in their stipulated 20 overs.

Australia had scored the highest ever T20I score in the previous match and this seemed to be a cakewalk for them. In came the hero of the previous match Glenn Maxwell along with David Warner to start the proceedings. Maxwell continued from where he stopped last game and it was see-ball-hit-ball cricket by the Aussies.

Warner and Maxwell raced past their fifty-run opening stand in just 4.5 overs. Maxwell then launched Thisara Perera for 18 runs in the 6th over as he became the fastest half-centurion for Australia in T20Is. He reached the landmark in just 18 deliveries as Australia pocketed 75 runs in the powerplay. The carnage continued midway till the 9th over when Prasanna finally managed to outplay Maxwell and his middle stump. An animated redundant send-off by Prasanna followed as Maxwell’s top knock of 29-ball 66 with 7 fours and 4 sixes ended.

In walked Moises Henriques to join Warner at the crease. Just when Australia seemed to be cruising towards the target, some anti-climax followed. From being 93/0 in 8.2 overs to being 99/4 in 10.4 overs needs quite some poor cricket and Australia did just that. Pathirana managed to get Henriques stumped on 1 before dismissing Warner (25 off 24 balls) in the 10th over. In came James Faulkner but only to be run out on 1 by Kusal Perera and Dinesh Chandimal.

Things slowed down miraculously and Sri Lankans were right back in the game. Usman Khawaja’s luckless tour continued as he was dismissed by Dilshan on 6 off 15 balls. Dilshan struck again as he dismissed Wade on 14 off 23 balls to have Australia 120/6 in 17 overs. But the total was a little too less for Sri Lanka to defend it. Head’s unbeaten 9 off 10 and Peter Nevill’s unbeaten 3 off 1 saw Australia through with 4 wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare.

With the win, Australia sealed an emphatic 2-0 win in the T20 series. What a turn around it was. From losing the Test series miserably 0-3, they came back strong in the limited overs to win both the ODI series and the T20I series.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka: 128/9 in 20 overs (D de Silva 62, Perera 22, Zampa 3/16, Faulkner 3/19)

Australia: 130/6 in 17.5overs (Maxwell 66, Warner 25, Dilshan2/8, Pathirana 2/23)

Man of the Match: Glenn Maxwell

Man of the Series: Glenn Maxwell