On the back of Glenn Maxwell’s unbeaten 145, Australia secured the record for highest T20I total, overtaking Sri Lanka’s record of 260/6 against Kenya in the 2007 World T20 in South Africa.
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“Aaron was hit on the right index finger when fielding a ball and subsequent X-rays have shown a fracture which means he will not be available for the remaining two T20 worldwide matches”, team physiotherapist David Beakley said.
All the Sri Lanka bowlers gave away more than 11 runs per over.
Maxwell acknowledged he was excited about the opportunity to bat up the order. Now, they only hold the highest team score in Tests.
There were also contributions from captain David Warner (28 from 16 balls), Usman Khawaja (36 from 22) and Travis Head (45 from 18) who was dismissed off the last ball of the innings.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc takes a catch to dismiss Sri Lanka’s Suranga Lakmal. Maxwell became the third Australian batsman to score a T20I century after Aaron Finch and Shane Watson, which he achieved off just 49 deliveries.
It was Sri Lanka’s heaviest loss against Australia in Twenty20 internationals, with the previous low point having been an 81-run defeat in 2010.
DineshChandimal will lead a 14-man squad in the absence of injured captain Angelo Mathews in the two-match T20 series against Australia, starting from Tuesday in Pallekele.
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But history suggests that despite its appearance as 50-over cricket without those often tedious middle overs, the Twenty20 game has become a vastly different proposition for Australia who have won exactly half of the 88 T20I matches they’ve contested over more than a decade.
