A blistering half-century by Dasun Shanaka blew Australia away in a thrilling chase at Pallekele as Sri Lanka claimed victory in the third T20 International.
Australia took an unassailable 2-nil series lead into the match but this rubber was anything but dead.
Set 177 for victory, Sri Lanka were 6 for 118 after 17 overs but Shanaka and Chamika Karunaratne blasted 59 runs off the final three overs to seal a remarkable win.
The Sri Lanka captain was simply outstanding, finishing with an unbeaten 54 runs off 24 balls that had a full house rocking.
Australia’s aggressive start
As they had in the first two matches, Aaron Finch and David Warner bludgeoned their way through the early overs.
Finch was particularly aggressive, marrying superb timing with power as he unfurled a series of stunning drives.
The Australian captain has tweaked his technique and as a result has looked increasingly solid and confident at the crease.
He and Warner motored to 40 off the first five overs but a Makeesh Theekshana googly was good enough to deceive Finch as he attempted a slog sweep, sneaking under the bat and clattering into the top of off stump.
Middle order wobbles
Mitch Marsh was out with a minor calf strain but, instead of batting his replacement Josh Inglis at three, Australia opted to elevate Glenn Maxwell.
It took just two deliveries for Maxwell to bring the fireworks, launching another Theekshana googly over deep backward square for six.
He played an echo of that shot off Wanindu Hasaranga with the same result but the legspinner struck at the end of his next over when Maxwell attempted to loft another wrong un over long on but instead found Danushka Gunathilaka.
It sparked a mini collapse.
Warner was rapped on the back pad as he played across the line to Theekshana, Sri Lanka successfully reviewing the original not out decision.
Inglis was out first ball thanks to some brilliant fielding from Charith Asalanka. Inglis had swept Theeksana and started to run but Aslanka hared across to the leg side from slip and fired the ball at the stumps before Inglis could get back.
Inglis’ fury at having blown his first opportunity of the tour was evident and, after a terrific start, Australia had lost three wickets in three balls.
The Smith factor
Some have questioned Australia’s decision to stick with Steve Smith in the side, but Finch has spoken of Smith’s adaptability to float up or down the order and, before this match, batting coach Michael Di Venuto talked about ‘unlocking’ him as a T20 batter.
While Smith has tried to distance himself from the ‘fixer’ tag, this was just the sort of situation in which he can thrive and he did so here.
With support from Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade, Smith steadied and then accelerated. Smith and Wade scored 59 in the final five overs, a pair of stupendous sixes helping Smith to 37 off 27 and Australia to 5 for 176.
The calm
The absence of Marsh meant Australia were down an allrounder and presented Finch the challenge of managing his bowling stocks accordingly.and for 17 overs it largely went to plan.
Josh Hazlewood was as miserly and incisive as he has been all series; his two overs in the powerplay yielded just two runs and included the wicket of Gunalthilaka, who was foiled by extra bounce and skewed the ball to fine leg.
Maxwell and Stoinis shared five overs in the middle period, with Stoinis taking two wickets in his first outing with the ball on this tour.
Sri Lanka’s batters managed starts but wickets fell at regular intervals and, with just three overs remaining, they were six down and needed 59 runs.
It seemed a foregone conclusion that the match would fizzle to a comfortable Australian victory; there was certainly no sign of the carnage that was about to unfold.
The storm
When Hazlewood took the ball for the 18th over, he had figures of 2 for 3 off three overs.
The stand out bowler of the series had given little away thanks to a testing length and useful bounce.
Dasun Shanaka had taken 12 balls to score 6 runs but exploded into terrifying life in four Hazlewood deliveries.
The first two were creamed over the long-on fence and into the suddenly rapturous crowd.
When Hazlewood then missed his yorker, the full toss was dispatched through cover for a boundary and Shanaka followed up by spanking the next ball for four.
A 22-run over had suddenly brought the chase to life but there was more to come.
Shanaka and Karunaratne blasted 18 off Jhye Richardson in the penultimate over and Sri Lanka were left needing 19 runs off the last.
Kane Richardson was aiming for a wide line but strayed too far and his first two deliveries were called wide.
Two runs off the next two balls meant the equation was down to 15 required off four.
Finch gestured towards his players to calm their farms but it was accompanied by a cacophony from anything-but-calm Sri Lankan fans who suddenly realised their captain might be about to pull the rug from under the world champions.
Richardson was rattled, missing his lengths as Shanaka dispatched the next two balls to the boundary before smoking one straight down the ground and over the sight screen to equal the scores.
Richardson again aimed for a wide line outside off stump and once more it was called a wide.
It was a bizarre way for the preposterous chase to end but summed up the dismantling of Australia’s death bowling by the Sri Lanka captain.
