The captain of Australia referred to their second-morning collapse from 298 for 5 as an opportunity lost They demolished Sri Lanka in what was virtually a two-day triumph last week.
They won an attritional series in Pakistan. However, the Australia squad’s defeat in Galle by an innings and 39 runs may serve as a “reality check” for the team as they work to improve their long-form cricket in Asia.
After Australia collapsed to 151 against spin in just 41 overs on the fourth evening, the second Test came to a screeching end, according to captain Pat Cummins.
Cummins states, “some batters went out with extremely clear plans, and you simply get a ball with your name on it earlier than you would’ve liked.” Life’s an excellent reality check for visitors to realize how difficult it is here. We found strategies that work thanks to the many positives from last week. Not everything needs to change because of a single minor glitch. And it results in more learning than does winning.
Cummins said that Australia let the match slip away on the second morning. Even though they had won the first day and were 298 for 5 at the end of the play, they lost their last five wickets for 35 runs, giving them a total of 364 runs for the first innings. Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne were still at the crease when wickets fell.
Prabath Jayasuriya Debut & Dinesh Chandimal’s brilliant knock
The entire statistical breakdown of Sri Lanka’s Test victory over Australia tied the series. With their victory in Galle, Sri Lanka defeated Australia in a Test match for the first time ever. Additionally, it was the first occasion since Australia’s innings-and-a-half loss to South Africa in Hobart in November 2016.
Australia has previously lost a Test match in Asia after electing to bat first by an innings margin. In Kolkata in 1998, they were defeated by India by an innings and 219 runs, and in Hyderabad in 2013, they were defeated by an innings and 135 runs.
12 for 177 The fourth-best overall and the best for Sri Lanka on Test debut are Prabath Jayasuriya’s match statistics in Galle. Prior to Praveen Jayawickrama, Sri Lanka’s best debut performance was 11 for 178 against Bangladesh. In a Test match against Australia, Jayasuriya also had the second-best game stats for Sri Lanka. In the 2016 Colombo Test, only Rangana Herath produced better statistics, with 13 wickets for 145 runs.
Dinesh Chandimal, who scored 206* against Australia, became the first Sri Lankan to get a double century. The previous best individual score for Sri Lanka against Australia was 192 by Kumar Sangakkara in the 2007 Hobart Test.
Since the start of 2014, Galle has hosted 17 straight Test matches that have ended in a victory. Only Sydney Cricket Ground (1882–1947), which hosted 37 consecutive Tests, and Melbourne Cricket Ground, which hosted 31 consecutive Tests that ended in a victory (1882 to 1937).
Prabath Jayasuriya 12 wicket haul
When the game started, they were ahead, but not by so much that this was the most likely way it would end. But Australia didn’t know what to do about Chandimal, who helped the last four wickets add 145 runs. By contrast, Australia’s last five wickets in the first innings only added 35 runs. Then, their second innings were like a nightmare from the subcontinent from not too long ago.
In just 28 overs, they lost all ten wickets for 102 runs, with nine falling in the last session. Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith were the first pair of wickets that Jayasuriya took twice in one over, shattering the top order.
He then appropriately sealed the victory with his record-breaking strike when he spun one past Mitchell Swepson. He trails only Narendra Hirwani’s 16 against the West Indies in Chennai in 1988 for spinners who have taken 12 or more wickets on debut. Only five bowlers in history have done so.
With time to spare on the fourth evening, Prabath Jayasuriya finished with the finest Test debut performance by a Sri Lankan with a 12-wicket haul as they sprinted to an innings-and-39-run victory.
Regret their Review Australia
No team will ever be able to use reviews perfectly, but sometimes some mistakes stand out more than others. For Australia, this happened most famously in the 2019 Ashes Test against England at Headingly, when they didn’t use their last review and Ben Stokes was given not out with two runs needed to win, even though it would have been overturned.
Australia has tried a lot of different ways to find the best people to make decisions about reviews, but Sri Lanka’s first innings of the second Test in Galle was another time when things didn’t go so well. This was especially costly because Dinesh Chandimal was given a second chance when he edged Mitchell Starc and was given life. Here’s a summary of what the reviews said.
