‘Dasuna Shanaka one of greatest captains’: Twitter reacts as Sri Lanka beat Australia in thriller to level series – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Chamika Karunaratne led the attack and the rest of the Sri Lanka’s bowlers struck at regular intervals as the hosts outsmarted Australia and clinched a series-levelling 26-run win in the second ODI. Chasing a rain-revised 216, Australia could only manage 189.

Karunaratne ended with figures of 3-47 and this included the wickets of Steve Smith, for 28, and Glenn Maxwell, for 30. He was given good support by fellow pacer Dushmantha Chameera who dismissed the final batter to spark wild celebrations in the stands.

Apart from these seamers, spinners Dhananjaya de Silva, Dunith Wellalage took two wickets each. Earlier in the day, De Silva also chipped in with the bat as he scored 34 and added 61 runs for the third wicket with Kusal Mendis, who made 36. Sri Lanka were on 220 when rain forced the players to take refuge and the innings was brought to an end.

For Australia, pacer Pat Cummins returned figures of 4-35 but his effort were of no use as Australia lost openers Aaron Finch, on 14, and David Warner, on 37. On a pitch that was two-paced and slightly sluggish, Australia never got going and their chase did not gather any momentum.

At one stage, Sri Lanka was in a spot of bother after they were reduced to 7-103 through the middle overs. However, the 10^th-wicket partnership between Dushmantha Chameera and Maheesh Theekshana dragged the hosts towards some respectability.

Australia were quite sloppy in the field and made a number of errors that prompted former wicket-keeper Brad Haddin to point that they were behind the game as far as their fielding was concerned.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Sri Lanka’s series-levelling win: