Sri Lanka will have some hard thinking to do with much emphasis on the spin department with Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva still recovering from a left leg groin strain and his replacement Jeffery Vandersay overshadowed by part time bowler Dhananjaya de Silva who picked up two crucial wickets in the second ODI as the team moves in for the third match today at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
De Silva, a part-time off spinner took the scalps of both Australian openers David Warner (37) and Aaron Finch (14) with some stinging and accurate bowling that bowled the former and trapped leg-before the latter while Sri Lanka defended a 216 target in 43 overs.
The two scalps were a huge bonus for Sri Lanka after frontline spinner Maheesh Theekshana went wicket-less bowling eight overs for 48 runs and Australia were sitting pretty at 62 for 1 at one stage.
Vandersay in contrast may have tightened up one end while bowling his five overs for 23 runs, but his presence was also overshadowed by schoolboy Dunith Wellalage who also bowled five overs but took the wickets of Travis Head for 23 and Manus Labuschagne for 18 to turn the tide in favour of Sri Lanka.
According to a team source Sri Lanka will keep its options open until the last minute to decide whether to continue with Vandersay or reinforce the the shaky batting by recalling Bhanuka Rajapakse.
Sri Lanka has also been pleased with the fact that medium pace bowler and lower order batter Chamika Karunaratne struck well in the second ODI to claim three wickets that included the prized scalps of Steven Smith (28) and Glenn Maxwell (30) that put the result beyond doubt.
Australia are also looking at some changes and the pitch at the Premadasa Stadium is expected to cater to spin and the tourists have found an effective replacement in left arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann who made his debut and plucked two wickets after he was flown by helicopter from Hambantota where he was representing the Australia A team against Sri Lanka A.