Daijiworld Media Network
Colombo, Aug 8: Sri Lanka's 'mystery' bowler Ajantha Mendis achieved a career best record of 6/17 against Australia in the second and final T20 match on Monday August 8 day-night game.
Needing 157 to win, Australis started off well with 71/0, but struggled thereafter against Lankan spinners and finally fell short by 8 runs. The visitors could manage only 149 for 9.
Earlier, former captain and Lankan star player Mahela Jayawardene scored a match winning 86 in 63 balls to post a respectable total of 157.
Ajantha Mendis declared the Man of the Match for his record spell of 6-16.
Many good individual performances this match. First it was Mahela. He was the lone warrior with the bat for Sri Lanka and smashed the bowling when everyone around him were struggling. 158 looked like a piece of cake for Australia when Shane Watson was batting. He smashed 57 off 24 but then, Ajantha Mendis came.
From 71-0 in the 6th over to 149/9 in 20. Who would have imagined that when Shane Watson was toying around with the bowling? But credit to Sri Lanka, and Mendis in particular, for the stunning comeback. They came back from nowhere and choked Australia with spin to take the game, despite some late hitting from Cameron White.
In a post match statement, Lankan captain Tilakaratne Dilshan said that "Very happy with the way the boys performed. First Mahela batted superbly and gave us a good score. Brilliant catch that (Mathews - Mahela) and that was the turning point. It as a fantastic bowling show by all the bowlers. Huge advantage before the ODI series. Everyone is happy with the series win. We played brilliantly and won it 2-0. Thank you very much to all the fans who came here today."
Losing captain C White said that "Unfortunately not good enough, so clearly some work to be done. No excuses after Shane Watson gave us that start but Mendis bowled beautifully. The rest of the series will be tough as well, but credit to Sri Lanka. Fantastic crowd here, much like in the Centurion ground."
Speaking at the sidelines, Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka's star alrounder said that " Pure instincts, I just saw Mahela and threw it to him and it worked! (About that stunning relay catch). Mendis was fantastic, he is the one who brought us back in the game. We were far behind but we took the wickets to come back. I didn't have much time in the middle so hoping to get a hit soon. Looking forward to the ODI series."