Sri Lanka beat AUS by 4 wickets
Sri Lanka pulled off a heist against Australia in the third and final T20 as skipper Dasun Shanaka slammed 19 runs in the last over vs Richardson to win the match by four wickets.
It all started with Australia winning the toss and deciding to bat first. Batting first, Warner and Finch got the kangaroos off a solid start before Theekshana sent Finch packing.
Maxwell came in at number three, hit a couple of sixes, and departed. Warner and Inglis followed him back, and from 85/1, Australia were suddenly reeling at 85/4.
Steve Smith made a well-made 37 off 27 deliveries, and Stonis hit a quickfire 38 off 23 deliveries to power AUS to 176 at the end of 20 overs.
Chasing 177, SL lost Danushka Gunathilaka early. Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka stabilised the ship, made 27 and 26 respectively, and anchored the chase to a certain extent.
Sri Lanka, though, lost steam in the middle overs, with the run-rate climbing well past 12 an over. After they were 6 down, and the run rate was as high as it was, no one gave them a chance.
But skipper Shanaka had other plans. The match came boiling down to the last over with SL needing 19 to win. Richardson bowled the last over and started it with a couple of wides. A couple of singles were then followed by a couple of boundaries.
SL needed 7 to win off the last 2 deliveries, and that is when Shanaka came into his own, and slammed a six on the penultimate delivery to kill the chase. Richardson completed the formalities by bowling a wide to hand SL their maiden win of the series.
SL Playing 11
Pathum Nissanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Praveen Jayawickrama
AUS Playing 11
Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Josh Inglis, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Josh Hazlewood
