Amidst the distress, there is a fresh breeze of cricket that is sailing in Sri Lanka and that must have brought some refreshment to the audience. Even though the result did not go the way the local crowd would have wanted it to be, it was a match to watch out for. Let us dive into AUS vs Sri Lanka match highlights, 1st match of the Australia Tour of Sri Lanka 2022.
AUS vs Sri Lanka Match Highlights:
Playing their first T20I of the 3 match series, Australia beat the host Sri Lanka by 10 wickets. After winning the toss the Ozzies decided to field first. Sri Lanka openers looked prepared to bat first but the middle and down order couldn’t catch up.
Danushka Gunathilaka and Pathum Nissanka gave a decent start to SL as they scored a good 35 in the first 4 overs. It was a good powerplay for Sri Lanka as they only lost 1 wicket and scored 50 runs in it. The first wicket lowered the pace of the innings and after which even though there were good partnerships, that did not reflect on the scoreboard as there were very few boundaries hit.
Things changed completely in favor of Australia after Hazlewood took 3 wickets in the 14th over. After that, the wickets fell at regular intervals and from then, Sri Lanka could not get back on its feet. From 2 for 100, the team was reduced to 128 all batters down. Hazlewood completely changed the game for Australia as he bagged 4 wickets for just 16 runs in 4 overs of which 3 wickets came in just one over. Backing him was Mitchell Starc who took 3 wickets.
Chasing a small target of 129, Australia looked extremely confident of the win. After a pretty long time, we saw Australia’s opening pair hitting it off and the coordination between the wicket looked fantastic. David Warner went on to score 70 off 44 and his partner Aaron Finch scored 61 of 40. The duo wrapped up the game in just 14 overs winning the match by 10 wickets.
Sri Lanka’s inexperienced bowling lineup looked dwarfs in front of two nights of T20s. Hasarnga and Chameera who just returned from IPL looked completely out of place as they conceded the most runs.
The teams will meet again on 8th June for their second T20 international that will be played at the same stadium as the first T20 that is Premadasa Stadium.
