AUS vs SL 3rd T20, SL vs AUS 2022

11.00 PM IST| Tugral: Sri Lanka won the match by 4 wickets. Australia won the series by 2-1. Sri Lanka's captain played a blinder to help his team avoid a whitewash. When all Sri Lankan batters failed, the skipper took the command and scored 54* runs in 25 balls and won the match by 4 wickets. When Sri-Lankan openers came out to chase 177 runs. Gunathilaka and Nissanka tried to give an aggressive start but after 25 runs, Sri Lanka's first wicket fell to Gunathilaka. After Gunathilaka’s dismissal, Asalanka comes to bat to support Nissanka. He put on a 42 runs partnership for the second wicket with Nissanka but could not do much today with the bat and Sri Lanka lost their second wicket on the 67 runs. Stoinis showed Aslanka the way to the pavilion in his very first over for 26 runs. Shortly after that, Stoinis dismissed the opening batter Nissanka in his second over. 

After the dismissal of Nissanka, none of the batters were able to stay at the crease for long and the pace of the runs also slowed down. When skipper Shanaka and Chamika took over Sri Lanka's sinking innings, they needed 68 runs from 32 balls. Shanaka started showing aggressive style from the 17th over, he respected the good deliveries of Australia's bowlers, but where there was a bad ball, he would directly convert it into fours and sixes. Shanaka gets full support from Chamika on the other hand. gave him a chance to play as much strike as possible and both shared a 69-run partnership for the 7th wicket in just 25 balls. He scored the sixth half-century of his t20 career. Sri Lanka have won the final game and this will give them a lot of confidence going into the ODI series.

On the other hand, the Australian team will be disappointed with their death over performance. Hazlewood and Stoinis bowled very well, both kept their economy rate at 6 per over, and both the bowlers took two wickets each respectively. Agar and Richardson took a wicket each.

Earlier in the day, After winning the toss skipper Aaron Finch opted to bat first on this Pallekele track. They got off to a great start as Warner and Finch found the fence with ease in the first couple of overs. In the last, over of the powerplay, Theekshana picked up the wicket of skipper Finch as he was knocked over while he looked to hoick that one on the leg side. Warner who kept the scoreboard ticking throughout his stay was sent back towards the pavilion thanks to a great review by the bowler and skipper. He scored 39 from 33 balls. Josh Inglis who replaced Mitch Marsh failed to get off the mark as the brilliant piece of fielding by Asalanka sent him back. Stoinis scored 38 from 23 balls as he scored at a brisk rate but a smart piece of bowling from Praveen sent him back at a crucial time. Steven Smith and Matthew Wade gave the finishing touch to the innings as they scored 37 and 13 respectively which took them past the 170 marks. stay tuned for the presentation time.