The stylish right hander Dinesh Chandimal produced a remarkable unbeaten knock of 206 with 16 fours and 5 sixes while debutant leg spinner Prabath Jayasuriya captured match bag of 12 wickets as Sri Lanka recorded an innings and 39 run victory over Australia with a day to spare at the Galle International cricket stadium yesterday.
Especially playing against Australia the world number one Test team Sri Lanka who lost the first Test badly with in three days at the same venue strongly came back yesterday with the heroic knock from former skipper Dinesh Chandimal who stroked his maiden double century.
That was the highest score by a Sri Lankan against Australia passing Sangakkara’s 192 in Hobart and also this knock hit by 32 year old Chandimal under very difficult situation at Galle wicket. The way he approached his double century was excellent.
He scored his century on the previous day (118 not out) while he continued his form yesterday with confidence and last few overs if the innings he had to play a lone battle as low order batters like Prabath Jayasuriya and Kasun Rajitha were at the non striker. But Chandimal used his vast experience to complete his double century while he stroked sixes against Mitchell Starc always gave more entertainment to the Galle spectators yesterday.
After Australia were dismissed for 364 on the first innings Sri Lanka made superb innings to finish the first innings with a massive total of 554 all out in 181 overs which was the highlight team total against Australia while Chandimal also set up new batting record as highest individual total against Australia in the series between two countries.
The second innings Australia came to the middle trail by 193 runs but Sri Lankan spinner Prabath Jayasuriya who finished 6 for 59 in his 16 overs spell guided way to remove Aussies for just 151 all out in 41 overs. Sri Lanka sealed an innings and 39 runs victory.
Dinesh Chandimal was adjudged the Man of the Series while debutant leg spinner Prabath Jayasuriya who finished match bag of 12 for 177 was named Man of the Match and Jayasuriya also became the Sri Lanka’s highest wicket taker of the debut game and previous debut 11 Wickets took by Praveen Jayawickrama in last year 2021 against Bangladesh in Pallekele.
The Man of the Series Dinesh Chandimal said “I’m over the moon. Especially if you’re performing well and the team is winning, that is a really good feeling. I’m really happy with how I played, especially in Galle, which can be a tough track to bat on and this made good confidence for my future games.
Chandimal the experienced right hander further said I didn’t have any specific plans, I just wanted to be proactive against the spinners and at the same time rotate the strike. That’s what I did, and finally it worked and everything went good for us.
I must thank to my family who were always behind me. I’ve been in the side, may be not in the side, but your family and wife is always there. I also want to thank my teammates, who’ve always been there as well as my support staff and the fans.” added Man of the Series Dinesh Chandimal.
The spectators in Galle were very happy to see Sri Lankan victory especially at this hard period and they also really enjoyed the batting of Chandimal and debutant Prabath Jayasuriya ‘s bowling spell on this Galle track.