Teams Status

Australia

Australia wrapped up the series in the last game, beating their guests by six wickets and taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

The architects of their victory were their bowlers. With key names Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa missing, others stepped up. Kane Richardson took three wickets but those who did not get many wickets contributed by choking the life out of Sri Lankan innings.

The hosts restricted the guests to a lowly total of 121 for 6 and even though they took their time to get to the target, their victory was never in jeopardy.

With the series in the bag, perhaps the Aussies can experiment a bit and try out players who have not been tested in the series so far. We’re looking at you Travis Head, Jhye Richardson and Moises Henriques.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka were dealt a big blow ahead of the third T20I when their star man Wanindu Hasaranga was ruled out after being diagnosed with Covid. That seemed to suck the life out of the islanders. They were competitive in both of the first two games of the series but wheels came off in the third as they mustered just 121 runs.

The start off the innings was positive, with their openers plundering 17 off the first two overs but then everything went downhill from there. As has been the tale for most of the series, none of their batters got going with the exception of their captain Dasun Shanaka (unbeaten 39 off 38), and even he had only a select few moments.

There wasn’t much to work with for the bowlers but even then Maheesh Theekshana got them a good start, removing both of the Aussie openers by the fifth over. But then followed a 50-run partnership between captain Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell, which effectively killed the match.

Theekshana, the offspinner, finished with three wickets for 24 and was easily their best bowler but got little help from others. Even if he would have gotten it, there wasn’t much hope as the total to defend was too little.