ICC T20: Easy win for Aussies against Lanka

Australia has won the 2nd game of the tournament by beating Sri Lanka by 7 wickets.

Australia maintained their dominance over Sri Lanka as they beat them for the 9th time so far in 17 games.

Adam Zampa got the Man of the Match award for his awesome performance.

Zampa was very economical today and picked up 2 crucial wickets.

Australia in the toss

Finch chose to bowl first and invited Sri Lanka to bat first.

Sri Lanka lost their first wicket early for 15 runs as Pat Cummins dismissed Pathum Nissanka (7).

Kusal Perera (35) and Charith Asalanka (35) built a partnership of 65 runs and reduced the pressure.

Adam Zampa broke the partnership by picking up Asalanka’s wicket.

Soon after that, Mitchell Starc’s deadly yorker sent Kusal Perera back to the pavilion.

Zampa struck again and picked the wicket of Avishka Fernando (4) and sent Sri Lanka on the backfoot again. Thus, Sri Lanka lost their 3 wickets for just 12 just runs. 

Bhanuka Rajapaksa (33) was holding up one side, but he didn’t get enough support from others as wickets were falling at regular intervals.

Australia’s experienced bowling attack destroyed Sri Lanka’s middle-order completely.

Mitchell Starc and Cummins picked 2 wickets each and reduced Sri Lanka to 154 runs. 

Australian openers on fire

Australian openers started well and put up a partnership of 70 runs for the first wicket.

Warner (65) and Finch (37) set a platform for the upcoming batsmen which made chasing easy for them.

Australia lost Finch’s wicket when the score was 70.

Unfortunately, Maxwell lost his wicket in the haste of ending the game.

Both wickets were picked by Sri Lanka’s leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.

David Warner scored his first half-century in the tournament and returned to form.

Dasun Shanka dismissed Warner but it was too late as he has already done his work.

Warner and Smith (28) built a valuable partnership of 50 runs for the 4th wicket.

Losing Warner’s wicket didn’t cost much as the target was not big enough.

Marcus Stoinis did the rest for Australia by scoring 16 quick runs in just 7 balls.

It was an easy win for Australia as they were in the game from the beginning.

Team effort by Aussies

It was an overall team effort that made this win possible.

First, the bowlers made inroads by picking up wickets at regular intervals.

Later, the openers returned to form and built a good platform for the chase.

They played the Sri Lankan’s spinners very well today and batted sensibly.

Australia will now take on England on October 30 and Sri Lanka will face South Africa.

It won’t be as easy for Australia to beat England as it was against Sri Lanka.

On the other end, the South African bowlers would challenge Sri Lanka’s brittle batting lineup.  

Sri Lanka would have learned the lesson today from Australia.

Building partnerships and picking wickets at regular intervals is the key to success.

Australia 155 for 3 (Warner 65, Finch 37, Hasaranga 2-22) beat Sri Lanka 154 for 6 (Perera 35, Zampa 2-12) by seven wickets