Dinesh Chandimal ripped Australia’s heart out in the morning, and Prabath Jayasuriya surgically dismembered their limbs in the evening as Sri Lanka surged to a famous series-leveling victory late on the fourth day of the second Test in Galle.
The Aussies succumbed to their first innings defeat in six years, capitulating for 151 as first-gamer Jayasuriya, after six first-innings wickets, brought about a swift end to their tour and finished with the best match figures (12-177) by a Sri Lankan on debut.
Jayasuriya (6-59 in the second innings) confounded the tourists as he took the prized scalps of Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne before clean-bowling Mitchell Swepson for the match-sealing wicket in the final hour of day four.
The visitors’ fate was confirmed in just 41 overs, with the final margin of victory – an innings and 39 runs – marking an incredible achievement for a Sri Lankan side missing five players due to COVID-19, including Pathum Nissanka who was the latest to be ruled out on Monday morning.
It had all been possible thanks to the remarkable boundary-hitting blitz laid on by Chandimal (206no), who took a match Australia still had hopes of winning at the day’s outset and singlehandedly put it out of reach.
A pitch that Chandimal had dispatched the vaunted Aussies on with ease then became an absolute minefield when Sri Lanka’s spinners got their chance on it.
Separate collapses of 3-16 in 19 balls, 3-5 in 16 balls and 3-7 in 11 balls coloured a chaotic procession of batters making their way to and from their dressing room at the city end of the ground.
It mattered little in the end but the sight of David Warner and Steve Smith both burning reviews on lbw decisions that ball-tracking suggested would have cannoned into middle-stump halfway up only added to the sense of despair.
In sharp contrast to the visitors handing over their final five first-innings wickets for just 35 runs to leave Steve Smith stranded on 145no on Saturday morning, Chandimal got strong support from the tail to add 145 runs for the final four wickets.
But it wasn’t until he got down to his final partner in Kasun Rajitha did he truly unleash.
Chandimal blasted 42 runs in 18 balls that saw him twice deposit Starc onto the road just in front of the Galle fort, the second hitting a young man walking near the roundabout at the entrance to the UNESCO Heritage-listed landmark.
An incredible double century was sealed when he put Starc over the fence a third time, as Chandimal immediately sprinted towards his dressing room in delighted celebration before dropping to his knees – as if he, like the rest of patrons watching on, could not believe quite how quickly he had gotten there.
He was the first Sri Lankan to score a Test double century against Australia.
Compared to the frenzy that followed, Australia’s third innings begun serenely as their openers knocked off 49 runs of the 190-run advantage they had squandered before Ramesh Mendis dismissed Warner for the second time this series.
Resuming on 118 with his side six down and their lead standing at a modest 67, Chandimal used impeccable judgment in herding the tail through Australia’s increasingly ineffectual attempts with the ball.
After continuing to wear down the visiting bowlers with help from Ramesh Mendis (29 off 98) and Maheesh Theekshana (10 off 27), Chandimal launched his extraordinary assault upon the loss of his side’s ninth wicket.
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