Steve Smith suffered a concussion during Australia’s second Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka on Sunday. The Australian star will be subjected to low-level protocols for the next few days, is expected to be fully recovered in 6-7 days and will likely miss the rest of the series.
The incident happened in the third-last ball of the match as Maheesh Theekshana smashed Marcus Stoinis, as the ball went high up in the sky. Even as the ball seemed to be sailing over the ropes for a maximum, Steve Smith did not throw in the towel but dived full stretch to save some valuable runs.
He jumped at the last moment and managed to parry the ball back in play but landed awkwardly on his side, as his head banged into the ground at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
He immediately curled up in pain as the ball just touched the boundary ropes on its way back.
Steve Smith putting his body on the line! The Australian manages to walk away after a hard knock on the head while fielding.
He’s just disappointed the six was awarded!#AUSvSL pic.twitter.com/3PQihB5yNn
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) February 13, 2022
It was enough to propel Sri Lanka to equal Australia’s score and force the game to a tie and go to a Super Over. Josh Hazlewood conceded just five runs in the Super Over as Australia edged Sri Lanka.
Australia was sent in to bat in Sydney in Game 2 and posted 164 for 6, with Josh Inglis scoring 48 from 32 balls to lead the scoring. Dushmantha Chameera took 2-30, including wickets with consecutive balls in the 19th over to remove Steve Smith (14) and Marcus Stoinis (19), and Wanindu Hasaranga returned 2-33.
Sri Lanka was always behind in the run chase after losing wickets in the first, third and fifth overs to slip to 25-3, but opener Pathum Nissanka’s 73 from 53 deliveries kept the visitors in contention.
Sri Lanka needed 46 from the last 18 balls for victory and, when Hasaranga was run out for 34 on the last ball of the 19th over, still needed 19 off the last over from Stoinis to win the match and level the series.
They scored 18, with Maheesh Teekshana hitting the second ball he faced for six and Chameera hitting a four down the ground on the last ball to level the scores.
With the Super Over in play Hazlewood, who returned 3-22 in his four overs in regulation, bowled two dot balls and a bye, which resulted in Dinesh Chandimal being run out by a direct hit from Glenn Maxwell as Sri Lanka slipped to 1- 1. The Sri Lankans managed to get to 5-1 after six balls.
Maxwell took a single off Hasaranga from the first ball of Australia’s Super Over and Stoinis did the rest, driving down the ground for consecutive boundaries to secure the victory with three balls to spare.
Australia won the series opener by 20 runs last Friday in its first T20 match since winning the World Cup in the short format last November.
The next game in the five-match series will be played in Canberra on Tuesday.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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