Perth. Marcus Stoinis scored an unbeaten 59 off 18 balls as Australia made a strong comeback to the tournament after beating Sri Lanka by seven wickets in a Group I match in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. Man of the match Stoinis hit four fours and six sixes in his innings to completely turn the match towards Australia. This is the fastest fifty for Australia in T20. Batting first, Sri Lanka scored 157 for six on the back of Charith Aslanka’s unbeaten 38-run knock. Australia chased down the target in 16.3 overs. Captain Aaron Finch remained unbeaten on 31. Finch never looked comfortable during his 42-ball innings, so Stoinis played quick shots as soon as he stepped on the crease. He completed his half-century in 17 balls, which is the second fastest half-century of the T20 World Cup after Yuvraj Singh. Stoinis and Finch shared an unbroken partnership of 69 runs in 25 balls. For Australia, Glenn Maxwell also scored 23 runs in 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes. Sri Lanka’s abuzz spinner Wanindu Hasaranga conceded 53 runs in three overs. Mahish Teekshana conceded 23 runs in three overs with one wicket. Sri Lanka’s batsmen were struggling to score runs in the opening overs but adding 31 runs in the last two overs, the team put up a challenging score. Aslanka hit three fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 25-ball knock. They found good support from Chamika Karunaratne (14 not out in seven balls) and the two shared an unbroken 37-run partnership for the seventh wicket in the last 15 balls. For the team, Pathum Nisanka 40 off 45 balls and Dhananjay de Silva 26 off 23 balls shared a 69-run partnership for the second wicket.
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Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Agar and Maxwell took one wicket each for Australia. Defending the target, Sri Lanka suffered a setback in the first over itself when fast bowler Binura Fernando was forced to leave the field due to a hamstring strain. De Silva completed his first over. Australia also struggled to score runs in the opening overs. The team could not hit a single boundary with the bat in the power play. This happened for the first time in international cricket when this Australian team could not hit a single boundary in the power play. Meanwhile, in the fifth over, Mahish Teekshana ended David Warner’s nine-ball 11. After scoring 33 for one in the power play, Marsh opened the account of the team’s boundary by hitting fours and sixes against Hasaranga to bowl in the eighth over. 15 runs came from this over. Finch, who is still struggling to score runs, hit a six against de Silva in the ninth over but Marsh was dismissed for 18 runs in 17 balls in the same over. As soon as Maxwell stepped on the crease, he hit 19 runs in the 10th over against Hasranga with two sixes and a four. Teekshana then bowled a maiden over. In the 13th over of the match, Finch got life on the ball of Karunaratne but Maxwell was out on the next ball. Stoinis started raining boundaries as soon as he stepped to the crease. After hitting two sixes and a four in Hasranga’s over, he completed his half-century by hitting three sixes in the 16th over by Teekshana, who gave three runs in the first two overs. Earlier, Australia won the toss and elected to bowl on a helpful pitch for the fast bowlers and in the power play, the fast bowlers trio of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc allowed Sri Lanka to score 36 runs for one wicket.
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During this, Cummins gave Australia the first success by getting Kusal Mendis caught by Mitchell Marsh in the second over. Pathum Nisanka hit a four against Hazlewood in the fourth and sixth overs but the team failed to accelerate the run rate. Dhananjay de Silva hit a four against spinner Ashton Agar, who replaced Kovid-19 positive Adam Zampa, but the team could not play a single big shot from the eighth to the 10th over. Sri Lanka scored 63 runs in one wicket in the first 10 overs. Agar benefited from the pressure on the Sri Lankan batsmen, in whose 12th over David Warner took a brilliant catch to end Dhananjaya’s innings. The Australian captain gave the ball to Mitchell Marsh in the 13th over and Cummins dropped a difficult catch of Nisanka. On the next ball, the new batsman Aslanka sprinkled salt on the burn by hitting a six and then a four. Nisanka was run out in the next over. Known for playing big shots, the bats of Bhanuka Rajapakse (7 runs) and captain Dasoon Shanaka (3 runs) also remained silent. Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade took a brilliant catch on Shanaka’s skyscraper shot. In the 18th over, Hazlewood caught Wanindu Hasaranga behind the wicket at the hands of Wade. The next two overs went to the Sri Lankan batsmen in which 11 runs were scored against Starc in the 19th over and 20 against Cummins in the last over. Aslanka hit a four and a six in this over. Australia’s bowlers conceded 23 extra runs in which wide contributed 12 runs.
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