Colombo: Sri Lanka will be going out in search of a series-levelling win in the second and final Twenty20 international against Australia at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday after the crushing Glenn Maxwell-fuelled 85-run loss in the first game in Pallekele. After being comprehensively outplayed in the Test series, Australia dominated the one-day internationals, winning 4-1, and continued that momentum into the T20Is, even though the architect of the win in the first game — Maxwell — had no role to play in the ODIs. Maxwell scored an unbeaten 145 in 65 balls on Tuesday, hitting the Sri Lankan bowlers for 14 fours and nine sixes. Even if Maxwell, who opened the innings in the first game, can’t pull off a repeat, Sri Lanka could find it difficult to lift itself — it would want to; after all, it’s the last time Tillakaratne Dilshan will turn out in his national team’s colours.
The only positive for Sri Lanka in the last game was the batting of Dinesh Chandimal, the stand-in-skipper, who scored 58 runs from 43 deliveries, and Chamara Kapugedara, who chipped in with 43 in 25 balls. On another day, against a more reasonable target, their efforts could well have ended in a Sri Lankan win, but 178 for 9 was no match for Australia’s 263 for 3.
The home side, currently No. 8 in the International Cricket Council T20I rankings (Australia is two spots higher), might consider making changes in the bowling department. Five of the six bowlers it used in the first T20I leaked runs at more than 11 per over — the only one who didn’t, Dhananjaya de Silva, bowled only one over, conceding eight runs. The options it has on the bench are Seekkuge Prasanna and Milinda Siriwardana.
