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After his side's four-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the final T20I of the three-match series, Australian head coach Andrew McDonald said that the side got a little one-dimensional at certain periods.
"The small reviews we had last night with individuals was that if you had the time again you would have taken some different options," ESPNCricinfo quoted McDonald as saying. "We felt we got a little one-dimensional at certain periods, a little too predictable and probably went away from what made us really good in the first two games, albeit we were not defending a total," he added. The head coach said that pressure probably at times took the side away from what made them really good. "We have been really good over a period of time and even last night you could argue that for 34 overs we playing really good cricket. We have got some personnel who are getting exposed to situations which is always a positive." "There were a couple of areas we could tidy up, no doubt about that. When you get put under that type of pressure...we did not execute as well as we may have hoped to in that situation but full credit to an innings of that quality, it deserves the result it got and it was a great game. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that but plenty of opportunities to learn from those types of situations," he added. The Sri Lanka team on Saturday created history by scoring 59 runs off 17 balls in a successful run chase against Australia in the third and final T20I in Kandy. The team scored 59 runs in the last 17 balls to register a new record in T20 Internationals. This is the most number of runs scored in the last three overs by any team to win a T20I game. Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka smashed 54 runs off just 25 balls to script a massive record and power his team to four wickets win over visitors. Dasun's knock of unbeaten 54 runs was decorated with five fours and four sixes. The right-handed batter completely hammered Josh Hazlewood for 20 runs off 4 balls in the 18th over of the game and it was the miraculous turning point for Sri Lanka. Along with Shanaka, Chamika Karunaratne also remained unbeaten on 14 off 10 balls. Talking about the match, Australia batted first and put a total of 176/5 in 20 overs all thanks to the crucial knocks of David Warner (39), Steven Smith (37*) and Marcus Stoinis (38). Chasing 177, Sri Lanka was struggling to bat till the skipper Dasun came out to bat and smashed Australian bowlers all around the ground. Dasun led from the front and the whole Stadium burst in joy once the thrilling victory shot was hit. However, Australia clinched the T20I series by 2-1. Both teams will square off in the five-match ODI series, beginning Tuesday in Pallekele. (ANI)
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