Picture Credit: Twitter
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka played an innings of his life in his team’s 3rd T20I against Australia on Saturday. Shanaka scored an unbeaten 54 off just 25 deliveries to notch up a four-wicket win for his team in the final match of the series. Shanaka aggregated 43 runs off the last 18 deliveries to win the game for Sri Lanka. The right-handed batter hit five boundaries and four sixes in his innings.
In the chase of 177, Sri Lanka were reeling at 108/6 with only 26 balls left in the innings. Even after the 17th over, the hosts required 59 runs to win the game and it looked like an impossible task with Dasun Shanaka only the complete batsman left. Shanaka was also struggling to break free as he was batting on 6*(12). But as soon as he hit Hazlewood for a six on the first ball of the 18th over, Shanaka was up and running. He then saw nothing and just hit every ball to send Australians in complete disbelief.
With the game taking thrilling turns, the fans, especially Sri Lankans, were also feeling the nerves. They were cheering every shot played by Dasun Shanaka. The joy on the faces was a sight to behold. In a video shared on social media saw the raw emotions of the Lankan fans as the game progressed towards its end.
All of them were shouting with their hearts out. The chants of ‘Sri Lanka’ were echoing at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. Some fans also climbed up to the railings to get a better view of mad hitting from Dasun Shanaka.
Watch the video here:
Watch Shanaka's innings here:
With this 4-wicket win in the last T20I, Sri Lanka finished the series 1-2. Although they lost the first two games, the thrilling win in the last one made up for those two losses. Now, the two teams will shift their focus to ODIs after the conclusion of the three T20Is.