Cricket, as they say, is a funny old game. Barely a fortnight after being booed off this very stadium following a humbling 3-0 drubbing by England, Sri Lanka were hoisted on shoulders and hailed as heroes on Monday night as they sent Australia packing from the World Cup with a performance that had nerve, nous and no shortage of swagger.

Kandy, which had turned hostile earlier this month, was suddenly awash with jubilation. Fans burned the midnight oil, firecrackers lit up the hill capital and chants echoed long after the winning run was scored. There is no sweeter music in Sri Lankan cricket than the sound of Australia being knocked out of a tournament.

Australia had come out all guns blazing. At 100 for no loss in eight overs, with the Power Play carnage extending into the middle phase, the former champions looked set to bat Sri Lanka out of the contest. It was leather on willow and Sri Lanka were staring down the barrel.

Then the tide turned.

The spinners applied the handbrake on a surface that offered just enough grip, bowling with discipline and clever changes of pace to drag things back from the brink. The squeeze was relentless. Boundaries dried up, risks multiplied and panic crept in.

At the death, Dushmantha Chameera was ice-cool under pressure. Nailing his yorkers and varying his pace cleverly, he denied Australia the late surge that so often proves decisive. What followed was a collapse of dramatic proportions, six wickets for 21 runs, as Australia were bundled out for 180, a total that looked well below par given their flying start.

“We knew this was a 200 wicket,” Pathum Nissanka told reporters. “When Australia were bowled out for 180, we believed we could chase it down. But we had to be watchful and plan well.”

What followed was a run chase for the ages.

Knockout games against Australia are rarely strolls in the park. More often than not, they are arm-wrestles that go down to the wire. But Sri Lanka got home with two overs to spare, a statement win carved out with composure rather than brute force.

For years, Sri Lanka have bemoaned the absence of a power-hitter in the mould of David Miller, Hardik Pandya or Tim David, men who can clear the ropes at will. Nissanka, however, proved that timing can trump muscle.

His hundred was worth its weight in gold.

Elegant rather than explosive, he peppered the boundary with five sixes of the highest quality, each one greeted by a roar that rolled down from the Pallekele stands. The pick of the lot was a reverse-swept six off the left-arm spinner that had audacity written all over it.

“I loved that reverse-swept six,” Nissanka said. “I knew that area was vacant but you had to execute well. I’m glad it paid off.”

It was the first hundred of this World Cup and a landmark knock for the 27-year-old, who became the first Sri Lankan to score two T20I centuries.

“Scoring a hundred in a World Cup has always been my dream,” he added. “I’m glad I achieved that today.”

If Nissanka was the architect, Kusal Mendis was the steady hand on the tiller. His mature approach at the top ensured Sri Lanka did not lose wickets in clusters, and his game awareness, particularly regarding the dew, proved crucial.

“Kusal batted so well and told me the dew would come in,” Nissanka said. “We had to make sure we didn’t take undue risks. We planned well and are happy to be through to the second round.”

That clarity of thought, so conspicuously absent during the England series, was evident throughout the chase. Sri Lanka rotated strike smartly, picked their moments to attack and refused to be drawn into a slugfest.

The victory ensured Sri Lanka became the first team from Group ‘B’ to seal passage into the second round, where sterner tests await in the form of England, Pakistan and New Zealand.

Rex Clementine at Pallekele