Pathum Nissanka guided Sri Lanka to an an emphatic win over Australia in what was an important game, especially for the 2021 T20 World Cup winners, given that they were coming on the back of a loss against Zimbabwe and will now have to depend on Zimbabwe to lose their last two matches for the Mitchell Marsh-led side to stand achance of making it to the Super Eight.
The Game
Australia started well by scoring more than 100 runs in eight overs while batting first, and were looking set to cross the 200-run mark before the Sri Lankan spinners took control in the middle overs by picking up wickets at regular intervals and restricting the opposition to a manageable total of 181 runs.
The Approach
Australia struck early by removing Kusal Perera, meaning that the onus was now on Pathum Nissanka to play a match-winning knock, and he did exactly that by taking the aggressive option from the first ball and transferred the pressure back on the Australian bowlers, who looked out of plans.
The Partnership
Pathum Nissanka got good support from experienced batter Kusal Mendis, who scored his third consecutive half-century in the ongoing edition of the tournament as the duo added 97 runs for the second wickety taking Sri Lanka close to the target before Mendis was dismissed.
The Inning
Mendis’ wicket did not have any effect on Pathum Nissanka, who notched up a much-needed half-century, having not scored a lot of runs in the last few matches and looked set to finish the game. Pathum Nissanka got the company of Pavan Rathnayake, who kept the momentum going, giving Australia no chance of making a comeback.
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The Records
Nissanka stayed unbeaten till the end with a score of 100 and registered his name in the record books. Let’s have a look at all of them
2– Pathum Nissanka’s innings of 100* was the second century by a Sri Lankan batter in the history of Men’s T20 World Cup after Mahela Jayawardene, who scored a 100 against Zimbabwe in 2010. This also happens to be the highest score by a batter against Australia in any edition of the T20 World Cup.
Nissanka’s knock was the first century in the Men’s T20 World Cup since the one scored by Glenn Phillips in 2022.
182– The chase of 182 is the highest by Sri Lanka at home in Men’s T20I, surpassing the score of 177 they accomplished against Australia in 2022.
This is the second-highest run chase in T20I cricket in Sri Lanka after a chase of 215 by Bangladesh against Sri Lanka in 2018
1– Nissanka is now the only Sri Lankan batter to score multiple centuries in the T20I format of the game. Tilakratnane Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kusal Perera have scored one century each in T20I cricket.
2-4– This was Sri Lanka’s second win against Australia in the T20 World Cup, having first beaten them in Nottingham in the second edition of the tournament in 2009.
100*- This happens to be the highest individual score by a batter while chasing against Australia in T20I cricket, beating the previous best score of 91 by Fakhar Zaman.
Nissanka’s innings is only the second hundred by a Sri Lankan batter in T20I against Australia after Tilakaratne Dilshan’s knock of 104 against them in 2011.
4– All four hundreds scored in T20I cricket in Sri Lanka have been scored at Pallekele.
5– Kusal Mendis became the fifth batter to score three consecutive half-centuries in the T20 World Cup after Mahela Jayawardene (2010), Virat Kohli (2016-2021), Babar Azam (2021) and KL Rahul (2021).
12.33– The Australian opening pair of Travis Head and Mitchell added 104 runs off 51 balls at a run rate of 12.33. This is the only third instance of a team losing a Men’s T20I after the openers added 100 runs at a run rate of 12 runs per over.
The partnership between Head and Marsh is the third time that a team has lost a T20 World Cup game after getting a 100-run stand for the first wicket. The remaining two games came in the opening fixtures of the 2007 and 2009 editions.
181– Australia, who were 97-0 after the end of eight overs, is the second occasion when a team has ended with a lower score (where per-ball data is available) after scoring 90 or more runs in the first eight overs. The game in question saw Saudi Arabia post 178 for 8 after scoring 92 for 0 in the first eight overs against Singapore in 2025.
Also Read: SL vs AUS: Sri Lanka Qualifies For Super 8 In T20 World Cup 2026
