Sri Lanka’s third and final T20I against Australia was one of the most dramatic matches one had witnessed in recent history at the Palleke International Stadium on June 11, Saturday. The Australians must have already celebrating win when Sri Lanka were at 118/6 at the end of 17th over. Who would have thought Dasun Shanaka’s 54 off 25 will hand the Australians defeat.
Australia had set a target of 177 runs and after Sri Lanka slumped to 118/6, Dasun Shanaka played a captain’s knock and slammed 21 in Josh Hazlewood‘s over. The next over saw three more boundaries off Jhye Richardson’s delivery and in the penultimate over, 4,4,6 off three successive delivery against Kane helped Sri Lanka the deserved win.
Watch the final ball of the innings and the celebrations that followed among the home crowd:
Sri Lanka had lost the two matches of the three-match T20I series against Australia. But this win can give the host team a much needed momentum in the ODI, which will start on from June 14.
In this match, Australia had won the toss and opted to bat first. David Warner, Steve Smith, and Marcus Stoinis played a knock of 39, 37, and 38 respectively. The Men in Yellow were at 85/4 in the 11th over before the 48-run stand between Smith and Stoinis carried Australia to good total. Sri Lanka made a decent start to the chase but Hazlewood sent back the dangerous Danushka Gunathilaka in the fourth over. Sri Lanka witnessed a collapse after three wickets fell for 12 runs. It was then Shanaka’s played one of the best T20I knocks.
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Check Twitter’s reactions on Dasun Shanaka’s innings
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