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The defending T20 world cup champions Australia hammered Sri Lanka by seven wickets in a Super 12 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 at Perth Stadium, on Tuesday.
After losing their opening match in Sydney by 89 runs against their neighbours New Zealand on Saturday, the Aussies had to bounce back hard to boost their NRR against Sri Lanka to keep their hopes alive of making it to the knockout rounds and the hosts did not disappoint their fans as they clinched a convincing seven wicket win on Tuesday.
Disciplined bowling by the Australian bowlers kept Sri Lanka quiet for the major part of their innings but Charith Asalanka and Chamika Karunaratne, added 37 runs from the last 15 deliveries to help Sri Lanka recover from the initial setback and get to a respectable total of 157/6 in 20 overs after being invited to bat first.
Mitchell Starc’s 1/23 and Josh Hazlewood’s 1/26 were the highlight of Australia’s bowling while left-arm spinner Ashton Agar was also quite economical in his bowling and ended with the figures of 1/25 from his four overs.
Left-hander Asalanka remained unbeaten on 38 from 25 deliveries with three fours and two sixes while Karunaratne scored a crucial 14 from seven deliveries with two fours after walking in to bat at number eight. Opening batter Pathum Nissanka scored 40 off 45 balls while his team-mate Dhananjaya De Silva scored 26 off 23 balls after getting off to good starts and ended their innings with underwhelming strike rates of 88.88 and 113.04 respectively.
In reply while chasing 158, the Aussies came out strong as all-rounder Marcus Stoinis hammered the Sri Lankan bowlers with his quickfire half-century to power Australia to a comfortable seven wicket victory with 21 balls to spare.
Stoinis unbeaten 59 off 18 balls was the fastest half-century by an Australian in T20I cricket. The 33-year-old all-rounder scored his fifty at an unbelievable strike rate of 327.77 with four fours and six maximums. He reached his fifty in just 17 balls, one ball less than Glenn Maxwell’s previous record for the fastest fity.
He smashed two sixes and one four to Wanindu Hasaranga in the fifteenth over and three sixes to Maheesh Theekshana in the sixteenth over. With this knock, Stoinis has become the joint-second batter on the all-time list for fastest fifties at a Men’s T20 World Cup. The Australian is tied with Netherlands’ Stephan Myburgh, who scored his 17-ball fifty against Ireland in 2014. India’s Yuvraj Singh still holds the record for the fastest T20 World Cup fifty and fastest ever T20 fifty, bringing up his milestone off just 12 deliveries against England in 2007.
Apart from Stoinis, skipper Aaron Finch struggled for his 31 not out off 42 balls while Glenn Maxwell looked quite positive for his 23 off 12 balls as the defending champions chased down the target in 16.3 overs.
Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga went quite expensive for his 0/53 from 3 overs while Dhananjaya de Silva’s 1/18 was the least expensive for Sri Lanka.
“Ronny said to have a look at the quicks because it was doing a bit and if I felt comfortable then to have a go at the spinners. Once I got in, the plan was just to keep going,” Stoinis said after collecting his Player of the Match award.
“To be honest I was really nervous today being at home in Perth with lots of family and friends here but really happy we put on a bit of a clinic today. Mentally I was nice and fresh having some time off with this side strain, but so far so good. I felt good. We played here the other day against England and it was a beautiful wicket.
“This did look like it was doing a little bit more, especially against the new ball. It’s a beautiful ground, probably the best ground in Australia if not the world. We’ve wrapped this game up and look forward to playing England at the MCG. They’re obviously a very good team so we’ll do our homework again, rest up, get on our flight tomorrow and then go from there.” he added.
Brief scores: Australia 158/3 in 16.3 Overs (Marcus Stoinis 59 not out, Aaron Finch 31 not out; Dhananjaya de Silva 1/18) beat Sri Lanka 157/6 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 40, Charith Asalanka 38 not out; Glenn Maxwell 1/5) by 7 wickets.
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