Sri Lanka vs Australia: Wicket was slow, says Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood, who contributed to Australia's impressive win against Sri Lanka in the first T20I with his immaculate bowling, said the wicket was slow and he improvised his bowling. A superb 4/16 by Hazlewood and fifties from David Warner and Aaron Finch guided the Aussies to a 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka as they chased down the target of 129 runs with ease. With this, Australia lead the three-match series 1-0. "It is obviously quite hot here, quite sweaty. The wicket is slow, but you can use that to your advantage. The new ball flew off the bat a little bit, and we dragged it back (length). Have been working hard on my T20 game. Playing a lot of it. And we saw that tonight," said the pacer during a post-match conference. Coming to the match, chasing 129, Australia were off to a solid start. Openers Finch and Warner maintained strike rotation with some occasional big hits and good running between the wickets.

A four of spinner Maheesh Theekshana's delivery in the sixth over took Aussies to the 50-run mark. At the end of six overs, Australia stood at a solid 59/0, with Warner (35*) and Aaron Finch (24*). After the power play, the duo continued their onslaught on bowlers. At the end of 10 overs, Australia had reached 87/0 with Warner (49*) and Finch (38*). A four of pacer Chamika Karunaratne's delivery in the 11th over brought up Warner's half-century of 32 balls. In the fourth ball of the over, the Aussies reached the 100-run mark. The match was interrupted by rain, with Australia at 101/0. Following the resumption of action, Australia continued the run flow. A four towards the backward point of Nuwan Thushara's delivery in the 13th over brought Finch's first fifty in Lanka off 37 balls. Finch completed the formalities