KANDY: Sri Lanka's Chamika Karunaratne (2L) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Australia's Steven Smith during the second ODI cricket match against Australia here Thursday — AFP Chamika Karunaratne and the rest of Sri Lanka's bowlers struck at regular intervals to power the home side to a series-levelling 26-run win against Australia in the second ODI, according to Cricbuzz.com.
The visitors could only muster 189 in pursuit of a rain-revised target of 216.
After play resumed, Australia started on an aggressive note with David Warner thwacking three boundaries off Maheesh Theekshana. He also pulled Dushmantha Chameera to the boundary hoardings. Just when Australia seemed to be edging ahead in the game, Dhananjaya de Silva won an LBW decision against Aaron Finch.
The Australian skipper took the review but to no avail. Theekshana could have also picked up a wicket but Sri Lanka didn't opt for a review for an LBW appeal against Warner. The ball-tracker later projected the ball would have crashed into the middle-stump.
De Silva, though, ensured the missed review wouldn't prove to be costly as he castled Warner with the one that stayed a tad low. Steven Smith, who came out to bat at No.3, looked in fine touch, employing lofted shots against the spinners.
However, Karunaratne dislodged Smith as Australia slid to 93 for 3. Dunith Wellalage then dented Australia further by dismissing both Travis Head and Marnus Labschagne.
At that stage, Glenn Maxwell once again raised hopes of charting a memorable win by collecting three boundaries off Wellalage. Just in the nick of time, Karunaratne picked up the prized scalp of Maxwell with a well-directed short ball. Chameera and Karunaratne then combined to run through the lower order and provide the finishing touches.
Earlier, Australia's trio of Pat Cummins, Maxwell and the debutant Matthew Kuhnemann had shared eight spoils between them as Sri Lanka were restricted to 220 for 9 in 47.4 overs.
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