COLOMBO: Australian bowlers set up a four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka to spoil veteran batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan’s farewell and sweep the two-match Twenty20 series here on Friday.
The visitors, who won the first match after scoring a world record 263, rode on opener Glenn Maxwell’s 29-ball 66 to chase down their 129-run target with 13 balls to spare.
Earlier, Aussie bowlers James Faulkner and Adam Zampa claimed three wickets each to restrict the hosts to 128-9 despite Dhananjaya de Silva’s fighting half-century.
Dilshan, who quit the ODI format in the middle of the five-match series which Sri Lanka lost 1-4, scored just one off three balls in his final international game but took two wickets to add drama to Australia’s chase.
Dilshan, 39, who participated in 87 Tests, 330 ODIs and 80 T20s, was given a standing ovation by a raucous home crowd as he ended his 17-year-long glittering career.
However the inventor of the “dilscoop”, the cheeky paddle shot played over the wicket-keeper’s head, did not have a chance to execute the audacious stroke.
Maxwell, fresh from his unbeaten 145 off 65 deliveries on Tuesday, once again turned the spotlight on himself after equalling an Australian record for the fastest T20 fifty in 18 balls.
The 27-year-old batsman, who put on a 93-run opening stand with skipper David Warner, was bowled by leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna after hitting seven fours and four sixes.