Australia and Sri Lanka captains -- Aaron Finch and Dasun Shanaka -- conceded that the dew made a huge difference in deciding the fortunes of the two teams in the third One-day International at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday night.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Australia skipper Finch opted to bat after winning the toss, and while it looked he had made the right decision as the tourists notched up 291\/6 in 50 overs, Pathum Nissanka scored his first ODI century as he paved the way for Sri Lanka's superb six-wicket win.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I think there was a little bit of dew, and it made a difference when we were batting. The ball was coming nicely on to the bat. We didn't expect that at the toss, so batting second made a huge difference to the game," said Shanaka after the win, which helped the hosts take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Finch too agreed that the record chase by Sri Lanka against the tourists was made possible because of the dew.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"There's quite a bit of dew out here. The wicket seemed to get a little bit better (in the second innings) it wasn't stopping as much in the surface," said Finch.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He, however, gave credit to the hosts for effecting a record chase, saying it was a clinical performance from Sri Lanka.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Credit to Sri Lanka... that was a great run chase. It was quite clinical from, particularly Nissanka (137 off 147 balls). That was a very classy innings, and we know the quality of the player he is. You could look back at a lot of decisions and wonder what was the right one. We still felt (going with the one leg-spinner) was the right one on this wicket with how slow it looked, and we thought it would continue to do that.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"But yeah, it played a bit better under lights. It's a really good learning opportunity for them, to continue to try and bowl to some good players, particularly when there are only four fielders outside the ring -- it can be hard to contain," added Finch.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Talking about the record run-chase, Shanaka said, the win was made possible by Nissanka and Kusal Mendis (87 retd hurt).<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I knew that it was a record chasing this down. It was a very good performance by the two youngsters with the bat, Pathum and Kusal Mendis. I hope they will take the momentum into the next match as well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n