David Warner tends to special things with the bat regardless of the format he is playing in and when he doesn't have one in hand, he tends to fling himself around in the field and make a difference there. Australia benefitted from this tendency of their star player as Warner pulled off what could go down as one of the catches of the year to dismiss Sri Lanka's Dhananjaya de Silva in the first ODI between the two teams in Pallekele.
Dhananjaya skipped down the track to Australia spinner Ashton Agar and looked to have hit it well enough for the ball to fly over Warner at mid-on. However, the former Australia vice-captain stuck his right hand up and caught it one-handed. He even managed to land on two feet after all of it.
Agar jumped with joy before going towards Warner with his hands on his head. However, it seemed that captain Aaron Finch was not too surprised that his longtime opening partner has pulled off the stunner.
{{/usCountry}}Agar jumped with joy before going towards Warner with his hands on his head. However, it seemed that captain Aaron Finch was not too surprised that his longtime opening partner has pulled off the stunner.
{{/usCountry}}Pat Cummins, Australia's captain in Test cricket, has been included in the team for the first ODI, thus making his first appearance in the format since November 2020. Sri Lanka, who lose the preceding three-match T20I series 2-1, won the toss and chose to bat first.
Dhananjaya's wicket was their third to fall in the match and they had scord 134 runs at the time in 25.5 overs. Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka have since then put up a steady partnership for the fifth wicket and taken Sri Lanka close to the 200-run mark.