Australia’s T20 series against Sri Lanka reached a new height after a six-wicket victory on Tuesday. This brought the total series score to 3-0 as the visitors have been unable to win any match. Although the series still has two matches to go, Sri Lanka cannot make any difference at this point as Australia has won three games out of five already.

Glenn Maxwell’s 39 and Aaron Finch’s 35 hastened Australia’s victory. They were able to achieve their target, 124-4, with 19 balls to spare and after losing four wickets. Sri Lanka’s chances of winning on Tuesday were threatened by the fact that Wanindu Hasaranga, their star leg-spinner, had to pull out of the match after testing positive of COVID-19. Nuwan Thushara, their favoured speedster, was injured just after seven balls. Even Australia’s Ben McDermott out on first ball did not improve their fate much.

Commenting after the game, their skipper, Datsun Shanaka: “No positives today, yet again a poor start from our boys as it’s been throughout the series.” He further commented that the slow start had been a problem for the team since the series began.

Australia had some changes in their squad before the game. Mitchell Starc returned and Ashton Agar and Daniel Sams were given an opportunity. Sams was the person who replaced Steven Smith, who was out after suffering a concussion from the last match.

After the match, Finch had something good to say about the squad: “That’s one thing we’ve been trying to expose a little bit more, shuffling guys around to get more information on the depth of the squad. And it’s looking really good at the moment.”

The fourth game in the series would hold on Friday in Melbourne. Hopefully, Sri Lanka would play a better game in the next two matches and prevent the series from being a whitewash.

Written by: Leon Osamor