Australia found themselves cruising at 222/2 midway through the second session on the first day of the opening Test against Sri Lanka in Galle courtesy of rapid half-centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith as well as a remarkable ton from Usman Khawaja. The three-figure mark did not come without perils though as the opener survived close calls on more occasions than one, perhaps the scariest of which arrived in the 43rd over with the batter on 90 at the time and on the brink of a miaden Test ton on the island.
Up against Prabath Jayasuriya, Khawaja tried to slice a length ball through the offside region as he rocked back into the crease. However, the red cherry spun sharply to take the veteran by surprise and ended uo taking a thick outside edge to thump into the thigh and pop up in the air. Kusal Mendis, who had been observing proceedings closely from behind the stumps, had bent low reacting to the edge only to then see it ballooning over his head and in a desperate attempt to grab on, the keeper quickly brought his hands together over his head. However, all he managed to clinch was thin air and end up with an embarrassing clap as the ball was long gone by then with even a diving Dhananjaya de Silva at slip unable to reach the SG in time. While a sense of gloom was immediately tangible, both de Silva and Mendis saw the funny side of things as they broke cracked sheepish smiles before returning to business.
Twitterati was quick to compare Mendis’ action to that of a person trying to kill mosquitoes amidst a barrage of discussion over the incident.
HaHaHa!
Smith’s brilliance on display!
That’s a silky half century from SPD Smith! 👌#SLvsAUS #AUSvsSL #TestCricket #wtc2025
— Palash Pansey (@PALASHPANSEY) January 29, 2025
Everyone is Reading it in Richies Voice!❤️
2/222. Ritchie’ O clock. 💚💛🇦🇺🏏 #SLvAUS
— Señor Mick🍋 (@mexicannrl01) January 29, 2025
stieve smith!🔥
His day!
That’s a silky half century from SPD Smith! 👌#SLvsAUS #AUSvsSL #TestCricket #wtc2025
— Palash Pansey (@PALASHPANSEY) January 29, 2025
Century loading for Smith #AUSvsSL
— OM PRASATH (@ordiperson7) January 29, 2025
played Well !
Smith’s batting is poetry! ❤️
5️⃣0️⃣ for Steve Smith 50*(57)
His 43 th test fifty 👏🏻🔥#ViratKohli𓃵 #ChampionsTrophy2025 #BCCI #RohitSharma𓃵 #BabarAzam𓃵 #CT25 #EngvInd #INDvsENG #INDvENG #ENGvsIND #JaspritBumrah #TravisHead #KingKohli #SLvAUS #AUSvsSL #AUSvSL #SLvsAUS #UsmanKhawaja #RanjhiTrophy pic.twitter.com/5FiZP46AVY— SOHAIB (@S0HAIB_7) January 29, 2025
Steve Smith the greatest Test cricketer of this generation. #AUSvsSL
— Abhishek Singh (@Abhishek_IT04) January 29, 2025
Khawaja On Fire👏🏻🔥
