The first T20I between Australia and Sri Lanka at Adelaide saw pacer Kasun Rajitha grab the unwanted record of bowling the most expensive spell in a T20I. The previous holder of this dubious distinction was Turkey’s Tunahan Turan, who had conceded 70 runs in a match against the Czech Republic in August this year.
Rajitha’s four overs went for a mammoth 75 runs in which 13 of the balls he bowled found their way to the boundary. He was hit for 7 fours and 6 sixes during his spell. He opened the bowling in the first innings and conceded 11 runs, with Australia skipper Aaron Finch slamming two boundaries.
His second over was even more expensive. David Warner smacked him for a boundary before doing the same to a ball that was adjudged illegal, then hit the resulting free-hit for a six. The over’s penultimate ball was also sent to the boundary by Finch and the pacer, who looked lost for answers, was taken out of the attack until the end of the 9th over.
His third over didn’t get much better as Finch smacked him for a six on the second ball of the innings before Warner hit two sixes and a four to finish the over. Bizarrely, he was brought back to finish his quota of overs in the death, bowling the 18th over that yielded 18 runs. Warner scored another boundary before Glenn Maxwell finished Rajitha’s spell with two sixes.
Playing his fourth T20 international, 26-year-old Rajitha finished with 0-75 alongside his name and an unwanted place in cricket history. Rajitha had already endured a tough start to his maiden Australia tour, when the wide he delivered with a slippery ball provided the winning run for Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra last week.
Until today, the most expensive T20I spell by a bowler representing a Test nation was South African Kyle Abbott’s 1-68 against West Indies at Wanderers in 2015.
Australia went on to post a massive target of 233-2, with Warner scoring a century and Finch (64) and Maxwell (62) scoring half-centuries.
